Argentina grants final approval for new distributed generation law

The Argentinean Senate has approved the law of Distributed Renewable Generation, with 65 votes for and none against, according to a statement provided to pv magazine by Marcelo Álvarez, from local renewable energy industry body, Cámara Argentina de Energías Renovables (CADER). The Senate vote was the final necessary step to the introduction of the law, following preliminary approval by the Chamber of Deputies in September.

Commenting, Álvarez said the government, and relevant authorities, need to rigorously regulate the new law, particularly with regard to how the guaranteed fiscal, financial and tariff incentives will be used.

The new provisions are expected to come into play in the first quarter of 2018, according to Alvarez. The wording of the law, approved by the Chamber of Deputies, resulted from the various bills on distributed generation, which were presented by all Argentinian political forces over the past years. The resulting, unified, text introduces a net metering scheme that that will enable owners of small and middle-sized solar and renewable energy power generators to sell excess electricity to the national grid.

It further states that all construction projects on public buildings will include the use of distributed generation facilities from renewable sources, and that distribution companies cannot add any additional charges for network maintenance, access fees, electrical backups, or any other type of tax associated with the installation of distributed generation systems.

A special fund, FODIS, worth around 500 million pesos (US$28.7 million) will be created, to help homeowners and small and medium enterprises resolve the issue of financing. The law could also include a series of fiscal benefits for prosumers, which will come from an additional fund of 200 million pesos ($11.5 million).