More than 1000 MW of renewable energy are participating in the new round of Argentina's MATER program.

Argentina 's Renewable Energy Term Market (MATER) has once again attracted private sector interest, with the unified call for bids for the first and second quarters of this year receiving 15 requests for dispatch priority. The projects requested a minimum allocation of 1,014 MW and a maximum of 1,520.5 MW ; however, it should be noted that 470 MW are divided between two projects framed under MATER 360, as they include additional infrastructure or are accompanied by incremental demand. The first of these, from Solar Energy SA, includes a 54 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) with 108 MWh of storage capacity at the new transformer substation of the Catamarca II solar park. The company requested 270 MW of dispatch priority in the town of San José (PDI Alumbrera - El Bracho) and is unique in that it is the first battery storage project submitted to the market by private companies to supply large users of the system. The second project belongs to the developer Eternum Energy, which requested 200 MW in the province of Catamarca for the Amanecer VI photovoltaic park. This project is accompanied by increased power demand from the mining sector, specifically from Santa María SA (Minera Mara). Regarding the 13 projects competing for priority dispatch, these are divided between 12 solar projects (ranging from a minimum of 476 MW to 866 MW) and 1 wind project (PE Las Campanas, which requested between 68 MW and 184.5 MW). Within this list, VIPSA and DQD Energy stand out with three photovoltaic applications each, located in the Cuyo, Northwest Argentina (NOA), and Northeast Argentina (NEA) regions, distributed as follows:

• VIPSA (from 118 to 270 MW)
  • PS Sarmiento II - 31 to 100 MW in San Juan
  • PS Ampajango II - 12 to 20 MW in Catamarca
  • PS Ampajango - 75 to 150 MW in Catamarca
• DQD Energy (from 145 to 170 MW)
  • PS Puente Libertad - 15 MW in Chaco
  • PS La Leonesa - 30 MW in Chaco
  • PS El Solar de Colonia Elia - 100 to 125 MW in Entre Ríos

Next steps: On July 18, the Wholesale Electricity Market Management Company (CAMMESA) will announce the projects that require a tiebreaker in the dispatch priority allocation process due to insufficient transport capacity, which will be carried out on July 24. The winners of this unified MATER call will be announced on Tuesday, July 29.

Therefore, the owners of the winning power plants will have until August 18 to pay the reservation fee for the priority dispatch award.