The Argentine unit of global brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev has signed a $283m, 20-year deal to buy renewable electricity from the 55MW Budweiser Wind Farm that's named after its most famous beer.
Hailed as the first wind energy contract by a consumer goods company in Argentina, the deal will guarantee 100% renewable energy supply to Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes' operations from April 2020, when the project is expected to be completed by local power group Central Puerto.
The project is located in the central province of Cordoba and will be close to Central Puerto’s existing 49MW Achiras wind farm. It will be built using Vestas V136, 3.45MW machines that will be assembled in Argentina.
Quilmes joins other Argentine industries investing in wind to meet a government-set goal of 20% renewable energy power supply by 2025. Around 1GW of wind projects are contracted for the non-regulated market as companies opt out of the more expensive regulated sector.
Central Puerto is one of Argentina’s leading power generation companies, with 147MW in operation. The company accounts for 15% of the country’s 970MW wind power installed capacity, and is a leader in the non-regulated market.
