Argentina’s energy ministry has announced a new renewables tender to contract 350MW of small-scale wind and solar projects and 50MW of other renewables technologies to be connected to the grid through low voltage lines ranging from 13kV to 66kV.

The tender process is expected to start in October and end in May 2019, with the signing of the PPAs for projects with a maximum capacity of 10MW and minimum of 0.5MW. Aside the smaller capacities being tendered, all other conditions such as 20-year, dollar-denominated PPAs and incentive programmes through the FODER fund will be the same, the government said.

Known as MiniRen, the government’s sub secretary of renewables Sebastián Kind, said the tender will be the third round of the country’s RenovAr renewable energy programme.

The decision aims to guarantee the continuation of the programme using the remaining grid capacity while the new transmission lines are being tendered and built.

Kind said that MiniRen also aims to avoid rising power prices because of a future lack of supply if nothing is contracted, respond to demand from investors and the supply chain that started investing the country because of RenovAr’s success and to allow for a “new kind of alternative investor” to participate in the programme.

“The truth is that transmission capacity is not a question of faith, we have the capacity that we have. Do we want more transmission capacity? Of course we want that… but if we can’t expand we have to be restrictive”, Kind said in Buenos Aires during the Argentina Wind Power Congress promoted by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

Investors have been waiting for the confirmation of RonovAr’s round 3 since the end of round 2 in November 2017, but the government has been saying it was concluding grid capacity studies and waiting to see the results of the an on-going public private partnership (PPP) tender before deciding on the round 3 tender.

The government wants to expand its 45,000km transmission grid with over 2000km of new transmission lines that would increase transmission capacity by over 5GW linking distant wind and solar districts to the industrialized and populated central region.

RenovAr has so far contracted some 4.5GW of new renewable capacity as part of the country’s drive to reach reach 20% renewable energy supply by 2025. This is will be a tenfold increase from today’s renewable energy supply. Of the total, some 3GW of wind and over 1.7GW of solar capacity has been contracted and will be built over the coming two years but this had used up all the excess capacity of the grid that was last expanded about 10 years ago.

Aside RenovAr, the renewable 1GW of renewable energy projects - mostly wind and solar – and the revamping 500MW of previously stalled projects under the old Genren renewable power programme will also used up excess grid capacity in coming years.

Although the government has started the PPP tender for the first 490km of transmission lines, it has yet to be concluded amid a complex macroeconomic situation.

South America’s second largest economy has been facing declining investor confidence because of rising public deficits and inflation. As the Argentine peso continues to lose value against the US Dollar since May this year – when the currency crisis first erupted – the IMF continues to give support to recent fiscal control measures with a bailout package of at least $50bn.

Wind

Argentina launches 350MW 'mini' tender for small-scale projects