Argentina smashes renewables record, 438MW of capacity in pipeline

Argentina’s non-conventional renewable energy generation park set a record on Monday, according to wholesale power market administrator Cammesa.  

Small hydroelectric, bioenergy, solar PV and wind plants met 24.1% of grid demand at their peak, providing 3,535MW, beating the previous record of 23.3%, set in December 2020.

Small hydroelectric plants accounted for 107MW, bioenergy 110MW, solar PV 551MW and wind 2,767MW.

Total renewables installed capacity stands at 4,639MW. Of the total, wind accounts for 3,130MW, solar PV 761MW, bioenergy 248MW and small hydroelectric 500MW. 

In associated news, Cammesa said in a planning report that 438MW of associated capacity was due to come online by October. Of the total, wind accounts for 194MW, solar 201MW, bioenergy 41MW and hydroelectricity 2MW.

In terms of thermoelectric capacity, 214MW is programed to enter service by the end of the year.

This year, authorities began to cancel renewable energy projects that have been paralyzed because of the financial crisis the country has been going through for more than three years. After 15 months of uncertainty, the energy department decided to cancel the contracts awarded in the RenovAr 3 (MiniRen) tender that the companies had not yet signed with Cammesa.

Argentina recently launched a tender to acquire and install solar panels for the generation of electricity in 406 rural schools in the provinces of La Pampa, Santiago del Estero and Salta.

In other news, four companies were recently authorized to enter the electric power market: biomass generator MM Bioenergía (Misiones province), small hydro generators Liuco Energía (Mendoza province) and Epec Cruz del Eje (Córdoba province), and thermoelectric generator Genneia (Buenos Aires province).