How is the RenovAr program going after the 2018 gale?

Local, European, American and Chinese investors have shown interest in the various calls: Tour 1 had 29 projects allocated (with 1,142 MW of power), the 1.5 30 initiatives(1281.5 MW) and the Round 2 about 88 (2,043 MW), exceeding official expectations.

But it happened 2018, the economy began to present profound imbalances, the rise of the country risk precipitated suspension of public participation projects (PPP) and began to cast doubts on the future of rENOVAR.

Now, a lot of water was flowing under the bridge and it's a good time to badyze the traces of the crisis, to know the status of the projects and to foresee the challenges that await the program against the big objective: generate from here 2025 20% of the renewable original electrical energy.

The government perceives that rENOVAR He went through his trial by fire. "Since its conception, we have used tools to protect the program from the local situation and this was demonstrated last year"he claimed Maximiliano Morrone, National Director of Promotion of renewable energies, in dialogue with domain.com.

Although the traces of a difficult year were felt. "Some hit them more and others less, the majority less, but those who experienced fluctuations allowed them to postpone their date of entry into activity because we understood the delays in structuring their funding"explained the official.

In any case, the synthesis is positive. "We believe that after having pbaded the financial storm of 2018 and that more than 80 contracts have been signed, the system is working.Worldwide, it should be noted that in a short time, 7 000 million dollars of investments have been invested "., he said.

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The wind farm of Puerto Madryn I

In the industrial and commercial sector, they consider the program's response to be favorable, even though they still count the wounded and cyclone victims after the hurricane. The president of the Argentine Chamber of Renewable Energy (CADER), Marcelo ÁlvarezHe said to that means What "In general, it went well beyond that, especially the projects from rounds 1 and 1.5 that had already accepted funding when macroeconomic instability came".

The problems appeared for the players in turn 2, to whom "This generated a significant additional cost of financing and some were not directly able to obtain it.This resulted in a secondary market for the sale of projects and affected the conditions for commercial start-up. Some of these projects have failed, others may be, but in a context of high devaluation, there are not as many as you think. model resisted better than any other precedent ".

• Target 2025: to reach 20%

Currently there is 30 renewable energy projects in commercial operation and 100 under construction. Among those already in service are 10 photovoltaic solar panels, 11 wind turbines, 1 small hydro, 5 biogas and 3 biombades.

Although progressive, the government expects them to come into operation in 2019. "About 60 0 70 projects, an average of 1.5 plants per week". When fully realized, they will provide approximately 4,600 megawatts to the energy system.

The big goal is reach the end of 2025 with 20% of electricity produced from renewable sources.

Today, the goal may seem ambitious, but Morrone believes that "We will achieve comfortably if we continue with this projection". "There is no turning back, renewable energies in Argentina are here to stay – anyone who will have to develop this in the coming years will have no reason not to continue"he concluded.

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Composition of the renewable matrix (%) and total energy generated.

CAMMESA

Less optimistic, Álvarez warned that it would be "Difficult" arrive: "As we move forward, and with the problem of lack of networks, the sending capacity is not enough".

Just a few days ago, Monday, March 4, The injection of renewable energy into the electrical system has reached a record of almost seven percentage points. An encouraging fact, although the owner of the room explained that there was "In a valley of demand, because it was a holiday, next to a generation peak with the wind and the sun in a maximum phase.In any case, we do not pursue this goal because we know that we are coming from far away. ".

• Transportation, the big deal outstanding

After projects were awarded in the early years to increase installed capacity, both in thermal generation and in renewable energy production, the big challenge is to increase the capacity of the electrical transmission system.

Just a few days ago, under the PPP scheme, the call for tenders for the construction of the Very high voltage line at 500 kV E.T. Diamante River – New E.T. Charlone, the first of the projects of extension of the high-voltage lines. Although the funding system is evolving in the future.

"What has been defined in PPP continues, but we define other alternative formats: we are studying how to energize it to attract new actors", summarizes Morrone.

"We need more high-voltage lines connecting the whole country and more distribution networks." For the second half, we should have signed contracts for these projects, we want them to be as fast as possible and at the lowest cost ", stress.

Series 3 had already focused on this problem, so projects should consider connecting to medium voltage networks to avoid overloading the most powerful lines.

From CADER, they pointed out that "This requires investment in the networks and Renew 3 is a step in the right direction, as it decentralizes and covers more provinces, because the NOA and Cuyo have all taken in solar energy and in the Patagonia and south of BsAs in the wind With regionalization, provinces that may not have high quality resources will be able to develop projects and solve energy infrastructure problems. ".

The problem concerns Alvarez, it is the delay in the "Five sections of networks that should now be under advanced construction", still without definition after several postponed offers. "Two or three sections are essential for shipping from the largest centers of wind and solar power generation", he added.

"We have to see how we will continue, until these new networks are completed, they will not allow us to think about a turn 4", he predicted.

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Las Lomitas Solar Park.

• Bet on industrial development

Álvarez celebrated this "the evolution of national components in projects is growing. In the first round, it was 14% and in 2 out of 30%. From one industry to another, the impact of the wind industry has almost quadrupled ".

Synthetic, "There is an offer in Argentina for wind towers, solar panels, cables and transformer substations, and 99% of solar modules and inverters come from outside." In the wind industry, the machine itself and the blades are imported, the rest can be done here. "

"There was an advance, albeit more timid than ideal, the problem of the local industry lies in the rates that can be financed which, even when they are favorable, are double those competitors such as Chile and Bolivia., he lamented.

Morrone pointed out that "This was not a requirement of the law, but when it was possible to develop the domestic industry, this was made possible thanks to the promotional aspects.Therefore there are two of the most important technology companies of the world with factories in Argentina ".

The reference is to the Danish Wind Turbine Company Vestas and the German project Nordex with Argentina Aircraft Factory (Fadea) to establish a local badembly line for wind turbines in Córdoba.

"This shows that for the private sector, it is a market that will evolve over time and continue to grow", he affirmed.

The aspiration is to generate 9,500 industrial jobs and 3,000 others in operation and maintenance. Morrone explained that in some components of the industry, such as solar panels, it is difficult to compete with the Chinese supply "has an economy of scale very difficult to match ".

Renewable energies and distribution networks can have a great ally in the world. law of distributed energy, regulated last year and is in the final stages of implementation. The industry and entrepreneurs are now pending resolution on the trust fund.

As originally reported, he will have 500 million dollars finance residential equipment and provide tax incentives to the commercial and industrial sectors. Álvarez described these incentives as "important " and he claimed that "It costs nothing to the state, since it covers distribution costs that it saves by generating closer to consumption, it will also save production in demand peaks, which is the most expensive of all, it would be a virtuous fund ".

Another positive point for CADER is that "It includes users up to 2 MW, allowing participating industrial parks and stakeholders not only to use energy at home, but to reduce their own energy matrix. Distributed energy is a real paradigm shift: not only does it emit less carbon dioxide, but it also changes the development model. ".

De Energía, they also hope that over the years, renewable energy will also be a cleaner matrix. also have a downward impact on prices.

For Morrone"The future is generation at the point of consumption, that each one generates its own energy.This is an excellent opportunity for 16 million electricity users." will be less loaded and performance will be better in times of increased demand ".