Argentina

The solar facility, planned to be built in the northwestern province of Salta, was awarded a 20-year PPA in the second round (Ronda 1.5) of the Argentinean program for large-scale renewable energy projects, RenovAr.

The three projects will all be located in the north of the country, one of the regions with the world’s highest levels of solar irradiation.

The solar kits will be installed in rural areas with no connection to the country’s power grid.

Under the new rules, which are expected to come into force in the first quarter of 2018, owners of residential and commercial PV systems will be allowed to sell excess power to the grid under a net metering mechanism.

The lowest bid among the selected solar projects was confirmed at US$40.44/MWh. The average price of all the 66 qualified offers for PV was $43.5/MWh.

The average price of all solar bids in Argentina’s third renewable energy auction was US$48.9/MWh. The successful bidders will be announced next week.

PV will compete with 3.8 GW of wind and a few hundreds of megawatts of less established renewable energy sources.

The 300 MW solar park, which consists of the three 100 MW Cauchari projects – 1, 2 and 3 – is being developed by local government-run company Jemse SE.

Argentina’s Ministry of Energy and Mines has published new standards for local PV production, mere days before it plans to announce the winners of the second round of its RenovAr auction program for renewables.

The announcement was given by the country’s energy minister, Juan José Aranguren, during a conference, according to local newspaper Clarín.