Argentina postpones the signing of RenovAr round 3 contracts

Argentina has again postponed the final date for contract signing for projects awarded in the third round of renewable tenders RenovAr.

In a resolution published in the country’s official gazette, the energy ministry said the limit date to sign the awarded contracts with wholesale market administrator Cammesa would be postponed from July 1 to November 30.

The ministry said several companies have so far not been able to fulfill the conditions required to sign their contracts due to difficulties related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The signing date had already been postponed once in April to June 30 in the midst of tight financing constraints and an uncertain economic scenario.

The government’s position toward the renewables sector remains unclear. While it has given facilities to allow companies to sign their awarded contracts, it has not signaled if it intends to continue conducting renewable energy tenders once the economic situation improves.

So far, production ministry authorities have said they did not like the financing model pushed by the previous Macri administration, involving dollarized contracts with guaranteed supply and other conditions favorable to developers.

However, former renewables undersecretary Sebastián Kind has argued these measures were necessary to attract investors given Argentina’s high level of country risk.

The resolution also warned that, if contracts were not signed before the specified end-date, they would be canceled, and authorities would execute the corresponding warranties.

Argentina awarded US$368mn worth of small-scale renewable projects in August last year in the third round of a series of renewable tenders called RenovAr.

The projects awarded comprised 128MW for wind, 96MW for solar, 12MW for biogas, 8.5MW for biomass, 7MW for small hydros and 5MW for landfill biogas.