Argentina's state power company Enarsa has awarded 754MW of wind and a total of 895MW worth of renewable projects in its Genren tender. A total of 32 projects were awarded to 12 companies with investments slated to hit 9bn pesos (US$2.29bn), Enarsa told BNamericas.
Six solar projects (20MW), five mini-hydros (10MW) and four biomass projects (110MW) were also winners in the tender.
The official announcement was made in the presence of Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.
"It is very important to continue to diversify the energy matrix that had become so gas-dependent," Fernandez said during the ceremony. "It is wrong to depend on a single resource."
The tender, which saw the opening of project proposals in December 2009, yielded more than 1.4GW of potential capacity. A total of 51 projects and 21 companies presented bids, according to Enarsa.
Enarsa launched the tender in May of last year and will offer 15-year power purchase agreements for renewable projects of up to 50MW. An overwhelming 1.2GW of the offers were for wind projects.
The wind farms will be built in Chubut, Santa Cruz, Mendoza and La Rioja provinces and will involve the construction of a 500kV transmission line between Pico Truncado and Rio Gallegos to connect the power to the national grid, planning minister Julio de Vido was quoted as saying by state news service Telam.
"This is unprecedented in Latin America and important for the diversification of the matrix in Argentina," he said.
BIODIESEL
Fernandez was also quoted as saying during the ceremony that she would like to see the energy department raise the biodiesel admixture to 7% and eventually to 10%, according to the presidential website. Argentina currently has a 5% admixture mandate.
By Christopher Lenton / Business News Americas
Source: http://www.bnamericas.com/news/electricpower/Enarsa_awards_754MW_of_wind_in_Genren_tender
