Renewable energies: how much and how much is produced today in Argentina and what is its potential

In three years, the "green wave" has attracted US $ 7,237 million of investment and 206 projects have been awarded, of which 43 are already active; participation in the supply of electricity demand rose from 0.5% in 2012 to 4.8% currently and would reach 8% by the end of the year

The take-off of renewable energy in Argentina can be described with some figures: 206 projects have been awarded since 2016; 6130.9 are the MW that will generate these companies; 4.7 million households will be supplied; 7237 million euros were invested in the sector and 9,200 jobs related to this activity. Over the past three years, the country has positioned itself as one of the ten most attractive destinations for investing in the "green wave".

In 2019, the share of renewable energy in the supply of national electricity demand reaches 4.8% and, although the growth of this index has accelerated recently, it is still far from 12%. of the participation that the law 27.191 set as objective to respect the last day of this year: it is estimated that at that moment, it will reach 8%.

The legislation also set the target of 20% by 2025. Despite the distance of current data for this purpose, it is considered that there has been a great leap forward in recent years: just observe that between 2002 and 2012 the percentage had remained stagnant only 0.5% of the electricity demand.

Sebastián Kind, Undersecretary of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency of the Nation, says the government's decision to decide the problem has led to the development of "a strong regulatory framework, backed by an innovative and uncompromising system of safeguards. previous, which has proven to bring certainty and predictability, essential element to develop capital-intensive sectors and long repayment periods ".

Kind, appointed to his current position in December 2015 by the then Minister of Energy, Juan José Aranguren, drafted for Senator Marcelo Guinle the text of the draft of the current law no. 2719 published in the Official Journal of 15 March. October 2015 and it was the basis of the green revolution.

Juan Bosch, a renewable energy specialist and president of Saesa, a gas and energy sales company, confirms that much progress has been made in recent years. "It is a good time to take stock of what was proposed in early 2016. It started very low, with 180 MW installed, compared to 1,000 in Uruguay and 7,000 in Brazil, but today we are much better, "said the expert. .

What is "much better"? More specifically, 43 projects already have commercial capacity (that is, they operate), generating 1221 MW of power in 12 provinces in Argentina and providing electricity to 900,000 households. This is one of 141 projects under development: the remaining 98 projects, which will add 3,567 MW, are under construction (70 will be operational before the end of the year).

As indicated by the Undersecretariat for Renewable Energy, since 2016, 206 projects have been awarded, which, when they are all operational, will generate 6,137 MW. There are 64 wind projects for 3788.2 MW; 69 solar from here 2029.9 MW; 59 bioenergy projects (biombad, biogas and landfill biogas) for 280.7 MW, and 14 small hydropower projects for 32.1 MW.

Daniel Montamat, former Secretary of Energy, believes that 2019 will be remembered as a year marking a break from previous years. "I say this because this year, most RenovAr 1.0 and RenovAr 1.5 projects are entering the system," says current director of the Montamat & Asociados study, referring to programs for which the government proposes and badigns work to the supply. electricity from renewable sources.

As of 2019, the share of these energies in the supply of national electricity demand has reached 4.8% and it is possible that 8% is achieved. The share of each type of energy in this percentage is as follows: wind 3.1%, hydraulic 1%, photovoltaic 0.4% and bioenergy 0.3%, according to the data of the Under-Secretariat for Renewable Energy.

According to Bosch, it was proposed to install 10,000 MW in 10 years and this did not depend on the renewable energy sector, but on the progress of finance and the economy in general. "This is not just a matter of good energy design, but of state policy because the investor recovers his investment in 20 years, that is why it is essential to trust in the country, "said the specialist.

To achieve this goal, the government has three chapters: (a) the RenovAr plan, which includes contracts signed by the state and for which it buys energy from producers; b) the market between private companies, which was launched at the end of 2017 and which implies that renewable energies can be bought and sold without any intervention of the State, and c) distributed generation, which started this year and which is the possibility that any user generates renewable energy at home.

Andreas Keller Sarmiento, a partner of Seeds Energy, which produces energy from waste from the corn and poultry industry, said that the advantage of the RenovAr plan is that It gives long-term stability to those who wish to invest. in alternative energies. "We invested 21 million USD in two factories (one in Pergamino and one in Venado Tuerto) and we entered RenovArts 2 and 3. Now, contracts between private companies have started, but they are still very embryonic and we are not yet in this market, "he explains. .

At the same time, Walter Lanosa, CEO of Genneia, a company that has invested US $ 1,200 million in wind and solar power generation, said that the development of renewable energy has given the necessary impetus in the past few years. four years to become a competitive and efficient alternative. "Genneia is convinced that the development of renewable energies will, in the near future, place our country among the most outstanding in the region," he said.

For specialists, renewable energies eventually put Argentina in a place where it should be from an energy point of view, namely the diversification of the matrix, with the incorporation of a whole related industry. It is very difficult to move forward because it goes hand in hand with a very sophisticated financial structuring, but once that is achieved, the economic and environmental benefits are remarkable.

An overview of the "green" reality of some countries shows that Argentina is still late, but if it reaches its goal by 2025, it will be in step: Chile has 18% of its energy matrix covered with renewable energy; China, 26%; United States, 18%; Australia, 72%; Belgium, 18 and Norway, 99%.

To achieve the 20% goal by 2025, at least two more calls from the RenovAr plan will be needed over the next three years, but before that, Montamat stresses, it would be necessary to expand the transmission network, both in 500 kV and in 132. kV to increase the number of nodes with available capacity and promote the insertion of renewable energy into the system.

In the case of the RenovAr plan, Kind points out that the integration of the national component, all technologies combined, went from 14% in the first round to 30% in the second round. "In the case of wind technology, the data is even more telling: it went from 11% in the first round to 37% in the second, with projects almost entirely equipped with domestic equipment," said the manager. .

Since 2016, about 80 companies have joined the renewable energy sector. There are small to large companies, including Pampa Energía, YPF, Puerto Central, Genneia, Seeds Energy, AES Generación, Jemse and Loma de la Lata. There are others who do not want to miss the "green wave", which is starting to become a reality and has taken 20 years to arrive.