Argentina has announced the winners of Round 1.5 of its Renew Program. With 516.2 MW PV won 40% of the total of 1,281.5 MW of renewable energy that was awarded. The major share went to wind energy, which scored 765.4 MW.
A total number of 20 projects was won by solar companies. The average price for solar energy in this round was $54.94 per MWh. This solar capacity is expected to generate 1,274 GWh of clean energy annually.
The Northwest region of Argentina, referred to as NOA or Noroeste Argentino, will see 164 MW of solar power capacity coming up, while the rest of the country will see 354 MW of new PV installations from this tender. The largest solar volumes – at 80 MW each – were won by Isolux Ingenieria S.A. and JinkoSolar Holdings Co., Ltd. in NOA and rest of Argentina, respectively.
The new tender takes the cumulative number of projects awarded in Round 1 and 1.5 to 59 in 17 provinces. The total awarded renewable capacity is 2,423.04 MW.
During Round 1, the Ministry had auctioned 1,000 MW of renewable capacity as part of its flagship program RenovAr. In that, the entire PV capacity of 300 MW was won by the Government of Jujuy province through a joint venture company it set up called Jujuy Energia Y Mineria (see 1 GW Argentina Tender Update). Round 1.5 was held for those participants of Round 1 who could not win in the first tender.
Round 2 of the RenovAr is likely to be launched in March or April 2017.
The country is aiming to have 3 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2018 and increase the level to 10 GW by 2025.