Argentina awards 1,282 MW of renewable projects in RenovAR 1.5 tender

The Argentine government has awarded 1,281.5 MW of renewable energy capacity through the RenovAr Ronda 1.5 tender.

A total of 30 projects were awarded: 10 wind projects, representing 765.4 MW of capacity and 20 solar facilities, totalling 516.2 MW. The projects are expected to generate 1,274 GWh annually, and they are expected to be operational by 2018.

The capacity of the wind projects almost double the quota of 400 MW that was set for wind technology within the tender. The average price of the wind projects that won stood at US$53.34 per MWh.

Each of the 20 solar plants has a capacity between 1 MW and 80 MW. PV projects with a total capacity of 516 MW were awarded in the Round 1.5. The average price for the PV projects within the auction stood at US$54.94 per MWh. Jinko Solar and Isolux Corsan were amongst the winners of the solar industry.

Round 1.5 of the tender is the second stage of Round 1.0, which was completed in October. It was launched for the companies that had registered for the auctions, but did not win within Round 1. Round 1 offered power purchase agreements (PPAs) for 1 GW of renewable power projects, including 600 MW of wind, 300 MW of solar, 65 MW of biomass, 15 MW of biogas and 20 MW of small hydropower capacity.

Argentina has now awarded 2,423.5 MW of renewable energy capacity under both RenovAr rounds. The government predicts that the projects awarded  will contribute to the goal of renewable energies reaching 9% of the country’s energy mix in 2018. The renewable projects from Round 1 will represent 2.7% and the projects from Round 1.5 will account for 3% of the energy mix in that year.

In addition, a second renewable energy tender, RenovAr Round 2, is expected to be launched in March or April 2017. Argentina estimates that 20 GW of new capacities will be required over the next decade, corresponding to a total investment of US$36 billion in power generation and transmission projects.