Argentina advances process to partially privatize Nucleoeléctrica

Argentina’s government has issued instructions related to the partial privatization of state-controlled nuclear power company Nucleoeléctrica.

The plan is to offload 44% of the company, which was founded in 1994 to operate the country’s nuclear power plants: Atucha I, Atucha II and Embalse.

Under a resolution, the economy ministry tasked the federal energy department with drafting and managing the tender documents in conjunction with the public company transformation agency. Officials have 12 months to “coordinate the necessary measures,” according to the resolution.

An asset audit must also be carried out, and a bank will be hired to put a price estimate on the shares.

Renewables law

Argentina’s federal government is looking to extend the life of the 2015 renewable energy law and is targeting tax stability measures to help attract investment.

The legislation, due to expire next month, was introduced to spur investment in renewables through a series of financial and risk-mitigation incentives.

One of its goals was for 20% of Argentina’s electricity to come from non-conventional renewable energy sources by end-2025. The current share is around 17%.

A core component of the new bill extending the legislation is 20 years of tax stability and predictability, effectively narrowing the portfolio of benefits currently provided.

Federal energy chief María Tettamanti recently told lawmakers: “We believe this law was enacted at the time to promote renewable energy and was appropriate given the circumstances then.

“Today, the situation has changed. Technology has advanced significantly, reducing the costs of building renewable energy projects, so many of the items provided for in that law no longer make sense to extend beyond December 31, 2025.”

Both the previous and current administrations have placed a strong emphasis on boosting fossil fuel production and exports to help bring in foreign currency.

The renewables sector is calling for grid investment and greater access to long-term financing. 

(The original version of this content was written in English)