The Senate passed into law the extension until December 31, 2045 of Article 17 of Law No. 27,191 , so that access to and use of renewable sources will continue to be exempt from specific taxes, fees and royalties at all jurisdictional levels.
The initiative received 38 votes in favor and eight against , completing the process that began in May when the Chamber of Deputies granted it preliminary approval. The previous deadline was the end of 2025.
For Ariel Costanzo , Director of Renewable Energies at PCR , the scope of the measure is concrete: “The extension of the law provides legal, juridical, and fiscal stability for the entire period until 2045. Because after that, we have new rates and new taxes that end up being distorting, and this is important for the sector. So today is an important step.”
The protection applies to the national government, provinces, municipalities, and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. In practice, it prevents the imposition of specific charges on resources such as wind or solar power for the next 20 years.
The discussion comes at a different time than in 2015, when Law No. 27,191 was passed to accelerate the incorporation of renewable generation and set increasing percentages of demand coverage.
The approved project does not extend the 20% renewable energy target set for the end of 2025. Nor does it incorporate any new mandatory targets. The key issue is maintaining the existing tax conditions.
“We’re not saying that renewable energy has to account for 20 percent of the demand. What we’re saying is that it has to earn its place through its competitiveness; don’t burden it with things it shouldn’t be doing, that’s all,” Costanzo stated during the live stream “It Had to Be Said and It Was Said.”
PCR's position suggests that future expansion should be driven by competitiveness rather than additional participation quotas, considering that the market already has more than 8400 MW of renewable energy operating within the Wholesale Electricity Market (MEM) , not counting hydroelectric plants of more than 50 MW.
Wind power accounts for 4,604 MW , while solar photovoltaic reaches 3,022 MW . Bioenergy adds up to 339 MW and small hydroelectric plants contribute another 501 MW .
According to data from the Chamber of Generators and Value Chain of Renewable Energies (CEA) , Law No. 27,191 mobilized more than US$8 billion in investments between 2015 and 2025. In that same period, the share of these technologies in the Argentine electricity mix increased from 2% to 17% .
Therefore, the extension of article 17 seeks to support one of the components that the sector considers central when structuring long-term projects: that the economic equation is not subsequently modified by charges specifically directed at the renewable resource.
“Because then we have new rates, new taxes, which end up being distorting and that’s important for the sector,” Costanzo warns.
The reference is not abstract. In recent years, initiatives have emerged seeking to apply specific taxes on certain resources used for generation.
Costanzo summarized it in one point: “ I believe that for the sector, for those who invest, for those who come from outside, even for the locals themselves, we need clear and stable rules of the game, and not rules that can be changed tomorrow, as for example they have tried to impose a tax on wind or sun.”
The continued application of Article 17 also impacts the analysis of new investments, both from Argentine companies and international capital. Law No. 27,191 also includes mechanisms such as accelerated depreciation for Income Tax purposes, early VAT refunds, longer periods for calculating tax losses, and certificates applicable to national taxes.
The focus shifts from goals to investment conditions
With renewable penetration rising from 2% to 17% in a decade and more than 8 GW in operation , the sector debate is beginning to shift from mandatory targets to the conditions necessary to sustain new additions.
This change also appears in the PCR reading: less dependence on regulatory quotas and greater weight of technological competitiveness, provided that specific tax distortions are not added.
Along those lines, the extension until 2045 eliminates the expiration that was due at the end of this year and maintains for two more decades the prohibition on imposing particular charges on the use of renewable sources.
For the renewable energy sector, the central effect is concentrated on one point: maintaining until 2045 the tax framework that prevents specifically taxing the use of the resource , in a market that has already mobilized more than 8 billion dollars during the last decade.