Distributed generation in Argentina is beginning to show signs of a new phase. Lower panel and battery costs, tariff adjustments, more mature customers, and the need for energy backup are changing the commercial conversation in the solar market.
Pehuén Barbosa , founder of AMBAR Solar Energy, appeared on the Alternating Current program hosted by Juan Grigera Bernardoni .
“We went from calm billing to being exploited with work,” he stated during his participation in Corriente Alterna .
He clarified that this is not an isolated phenomenon in his company: “I see it in my colleagues too, not just in myself. I see that the whole sector is affected.”
The specialist mentioned projects of all sizes in various provinces, from Jujuy, Catamarca, Formosa, Tucumán, and Salta to Neuquén and Vaca Muerta. According to Barbosa, this expansion is due to a combination of factors: more informed customers, more competitive prices, greater technological availability, and a growing need for reliable solutions.
In this scenario, distributed generation is no longer seen solely as a sustainable or residential alternative. Its greatest potential lies with productive users who consume energy during the day: industries, businesses, mining, oil and gas, and operations that can transform solar energy into direct savings.
What has changed in the profile of the solar customer in Argentina?
What changed most was the level of information that the customer brings with them.
Barbosa recalls that when he started in 2016, the market was very different. The current distributed generation law wasn't in place yet, and selling solar energy meant explaining almost everything from scratch.
“Before, it was about evangelizing people,” he explained. It was necessary to explain everything from how the panel worked to how that energy reached a machine or a television.
Today the conversation is different. According to Barbosa, customers are now asking questions with specific data: required power, consumption, bills, and specific needs.
This marks a maturation of the market. Demand is no longer driven solely by curiosity about the technology, but by users who are beginning to analyze solar energy as an energy investment.
What type of customer is driving demand?
AMBAR Solar Energy works with different profiles, but its focus is on industries, mining and oil & gas.
“I’m targeting industries, mining, and oil & gas,” Barbosa explained during the interview.
This data points to a transformation in the Argentine market. Distributed generation no longer relies solely on residential or small-scale consumption, but is beginning to gain ground among productive customers with higher energy demands.
In that segment, solar power can function as a competitive tool: it reduces costs, provides predictability and, when combined with batteries, allows for added backup in the event of power outages or supply restrictions.
Why are industries with daytime consumption the best business case?
Because energy is consumed at the same time it is generated.
Barbosa mentioned the case of an industry where 95% of consumption was concentrated during daylight hours. In this type of scenario, photovoltaic installations have a direct advantage: almost all of the production is self-consumed.
“Everything you generate you consume, and the savings are direct,” he summarized.
This is key to the analysis of distributed generation. The best projects are not necessarily the largest, but rather those where the solar generation curve matches the customer's demand curve.
When consumption occurs during the day, the system avoids excessive dependence on grid injection compensation and converts the generated energy into immediate savings on the bill.
What about residential customers?
The residential area has a different logic.
In many homes, solar energy generation occurs when the family is not home. The person leaves in the morning, returns at night, and misses the peak production hours.
That's where the battery's role comes in: it allows you to store energy during the day and use it when it's actually consumed.
Barbosa explains it simply: the panel doesn't generate power at night, and without a battery, the user may not be able to take full advantage of the system's potential. Furthermore, in a traditional on-grid system, if the grid goes out, the panels stop working for safety reasons.
Batteries, on the other hand, can provide energy for critical consumption and improve self-consumption.
Why is self-consumption still more attractive than injection?
Although the injection tariff may be close to the purchase value of the energy, Barbosa warns that they are not equivalent.
The reason lies in the structure of the bill. The user pays for energy, charges, and taxes. When they feed surplus energy back into the grid, they receive compensation for the energy, but they don't necessarily recover the same components they pay for when they consume it.
Therefore, according to the specialist, self-consumption remains the most convenient strategy.
“Self-consumption is always a good thing,” he said.
This lesson is crucial for the Argentine market: simply installing power capacity is not enough. The key is to design systems that maximize energy use at the point of consumption.
What investment returns are being seen in Argentina?
Barbosa says there are projects with investment returns of between 4 and 5 years.
“Projects with the highest return on investment take around 4 years, with an internal rate of return of 15 to 20%,” he noted.
For some clients, that timeframe may still seem long. However, compared to other low-risk investments, the appeal becomes clearer.
Furthermore, the international comparison helps to put the opportunity into perspective. While in other markets payback periods can exceed 10 years, in Argentina certain industrial sectors are beginning to show more competitive returns due to lower equipment costs and tariff adjustments.
The critical point remains the initial investment. As Barbosa explained, a solar system involves buying in advance a portion of the energy that will be consumed for many years.
Is the drop in battery prices accelerating the market?
Yes. The drop in battery prices appears to be one of the factors most significantly altering demand.
“It went down a lot, it went down a lot,” Barbosa said, referring to the cost of batteries.
The specialist explained that solutions that were previously much more expensive are now more competitively priced. This shift allows storage to move beyond being seen solely as a costly add-on and become an integral part of the technical discussions in many projects.
According to Barbosa, price decreases in Argentina usually come more slowly than increases, but in this case the adjustment has already begun to be felt in the market.
What role do batteries play in this new stage?
Batteries fulfill three main functions: backup, self-consumption, and operational continuity.
In homes, they allow the use of solar energy at night and sustain critical consumption during power outages.
In businesses and industries, they can reduce dependence on generator sets, avoid operational stoppages and provide greater stability to the supply.
Barbosa pointed out that batteries also have operational advantages over generator sets: they are silent, do not require the same maintenance, and can be integrated with solar systems to accumulate energy during the day.
In that sense, storage is beginning to be an energy management tool, not just a complement to the photovoltaic installation.
Do customers sometimes ask for oversized solutions?
Yes, and that's where one of Barbosa's key business strategies comes in: selling customized products.
During the interview, he recounted the case of a client who wanted to install 40 batteries, but he recommended starting with 20.
“Why 40? You’re fine with 20,” he said.
Their proposal was that the client test the technology, become familiar with the system, and then evaluate an expansion if it was truly necessary.
This example highlights a key point for the market: over-engineering doesn't always improve a project. It can increase investment costs, extend the payback period, and reduce the solution's economic efficiency.
What does it mean to sell custom-made solar energy?
For Barbosa, selling solar energy is not about installing the largest possible number of panels or batteries, but about designing a solution that responds to the customer's actual consumption.
“I don’t want to sell you one more solar panel or one less solar panel. I want it to work for you,” he explained.
This perspective is especially important for industrial and commercial clients. Two companies with similar monthly consumption may require very different systems if their hourly consumption patterns do not coincide.
Therefore, the analysis must start from the bill, consumption times, critical consumption, the need for backup, the possibility of injection and the investment capacity.
What remains the main trade barrier?
The price.
“The price is basically” the main objection, Barbosa acknowledged.
However, the context has changed. Today there are more brands, greater product availability, lower equipment costs, and better-informed customers.
The discussion begins to shift from the initial price to the return on investment, the reliability of the system, and the operational value of having one's own energy.
For the B2B market, this transition is relevant: the solar project is no longer evaluated solely as a capital expenditure and begins to be analyzed as an energy competitiveness decision.
Where is the growth potential for distributed generation?
For Barbosa, the potential is all over the country.
Argentina has solar radiation, land, agriculture, industries, mining, and energy demand. It also has grids that need relief and consumers who are starting to scrutinize their electricity costs more closely.
“Where is it lacking? Everywhere,” he summarized.
The contrast with Chile is presented as a point of reference. Barbosa highlighted that, despite having a smaller land area and population, the neighboring country has made much stronger progress in renewable energy.
This shows that solar energy alone is not enough. For the market to scale, it needs regulations, financing, incentives, streamlined procedures, and appropriate pricing signals.
Can distributed generation help the Argentine electricity system?
Yes. Distributed generation can ease the strain on the grid because it produces energy close to the point of consumption.
Barbosa argued that, beyond the regulatory obligation or profitability, solar energy will be necessary from a technical point of view.
The reason is that it allows for reduced demand on the grid, improved security of supply and, combined with batteries, sustained consumption in the event of outages.
For industries and businesses, this can mean less dependence on generator sets, less maintenance, and greater operational continuity.
What is your view on distributors?
From a technical point of view, Barbosa believes that distributed generation can be beneficial for the networks, because it reduces part of the load on the system.
But commercially the situation is different. If users generate more of their own energy, distributors sell fewer kilowatt-hours.
Therefore, the growth of distributed generation opens a discussion that is not only technical, but also regulatory and economic.
What technical challenges arise with more connected inverters and batteries?
The growth of power electronics necessitates greater attention to power quality.
Barbosa mentioned harmonics as one of the issues to monitor. These can cause distortion, damage cables, overheat installations, and deteriorate equipment if not properly controlled.
This is not an insurmountable barrier. There are filters, suitable inverters, and equipment with low harmonic distortion.
But as distributed solar, batteries and electric chargers grow, power quality will become an increasingly relevant aspect for users, installers and distributors.
What is needed for the market to scale faster?
There is a lack of better tariff signals, financing, and less bureaucracy.
Barbosa believes that tariffs should better reflect the true cost of energy. He also raises the need for incentives and financial tools to encourage more industries to invest.
Furthermore, he emphasized that distributed generation procedures should be simplified. If a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) invests in panels, installs a system, and wants to formally connect to the grid, it should not face unnecessary obstacles in obtaining a bidirectional meter or authorization.
“That has to disappear,” he said, referring to the obstacles that still appear in practice.
Is Argentina on the right track?
For Barbosa, yes, although there is still a long way to go.
The market is better than it was a few years ago. Equipment prices have come down, rates are adjusting, and projects are starting to close more successfully.
But growth doesn't depend solely on technology. It also requires predictability, financing, clear rules, more agile processes, and a better understanding of consumer patterns.
The interview leaves one concrete conclusion: Argentina is entering a more mature stage of distributed generation, but the real leap will be in the productive customer.
Daytime consumption industries, energy-intensive businesses, mining, oil & gas, and operations that need backup power appear to be the segments where solar can scale most rapidly.
The opportunity is no longer just in selling panels. It's in understanding how each customer consumes energy and designing systems that convert that demand curve into savings, backup power, and competitiveness.