Argentina's Macri signs energy, infra agreements with China

Argentina and China signed cooperation and financing agreements for investments in the South American country, mainly in the energy, infrastructure and agricultural sectors.

Agreements signed by President Mauricio Macri and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during an official visit by the Argentine leader relate to projects including the planned fourth and fifth nuclear reactors, the Cauchari 1, 2 and 3 solar photovoltaic parks in Jujuy province and the San Martín de Cargas railway revamp, the government said Wednesday in a statement.

The countries agreed to cooperate on projects requiring approximately US$15bn of total investment, Argentine state news service Télam reported.

The Cauchari projects of 100MW each were awarded to a consortium comprising provincial state-run energy company JEMSE, Power China, Shanghai Electric and Talesun through the RenovAr Ronda 1 renewable energy tender.

Shanghai-based Envision Energy was awarded 185MW of wind capacity through the auction.

Fellow Chinese firms Sinohydro and JinkoSolar won contracts to install 100MW wind and 80MW solar, respectively, through the subsequent RenovAr Ronda 1.5 tender.

The signings follow news that Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD will invest US$100mn in the construction of a plant in Argentina.

Construction of the fourth nuclear plant, Atucha III, will begin next January, local paper La Nación reported Wednesday, with work on the fifth plant scheduled to begin in 2020 in Río Negro province.