Argentina under its first ever renewable energy auction received bids for 6,366MW of capacity, which is more than six times the capacity on offer according the Ministry of Energy and Mining.
A total of 123 of bids were submitted by the interested developers under the first round of the country´s so-called RENEW programme to boost renewables. Out of total 123 bids, 49 bids with a combined capacity of 3,468 MW were submitted by wind project developers, 58 bids for 2,834 MW capacity by solar project developers and balance bids submitted by bioenergy and small hydro developers.
The auction aims to grant support to 1GW of renewable energy plants across the country however auction was heavily over-subscribed with solar submissions totalling 844% of assigned capacity.
Argentina energy ministry will award power purchase contracts to the potential developers on 12 October on assessing the technical and financial proposals.
Potential developers will sign 20-year long-term power purchase contract to sell power from proposed power projects. The projects are scheduled to be completed within two years from the auction. Rules for the first-ever renewable energy auction in Argentina were recently announced by the government. The auction will allocate 1 GW capacity including 300 MW solar power capacity. The project size will vary between 1 to 100 MW.
With this auction, government expects to attract between $1.5 billion and $2 billion investments in the renewable energy sector.
The government has set a target to increase the share of renewable energy to 20% in the energy mix by 2025. Another target called for 8% renewable energy share in electricity consumption by 2017. As a result, several renewable energy auctions are expected to take place in the country over the next few years. The government is expected to auction 10 GW renewable energy capacity by 2025.