Argentina"s province weighs new renewable tenders and expands distributed solar

The government of Santa Fe, a major industrial province in central Argentina, is evaluating new calls for renewable energy projects both at utility scale and within distributed generation, aiming to expand private participation and diversify its electricity mix.

"We plan to at least analyse potential future tenders within the Generfe framework, which was the first contract through which the province directly purchased electricity from a private company under long-term agreements," said María Cecilia Mijich, Undersecretary of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency of Santa Fe, during the Future Energy Summit (FES) Argentina.

Generfe  a provincial programme designed to contract renewable power through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs)  has previously been used to incorporate solar photovoltaic (solar PV) projects into the provincial supply portfolio.

However, the last auction took place in May 2023, when only one bidder  Coral Energía  submitted an offer and was awarded four solar parks of 5 MW each, totalling 20 MW of installed capacity.

The analysis of new calls is therefore part of a broader strategy to ensure competitive and sustainable electricity supply at a time when Argentine provinces are seeking to diversify energy sources, improve grid integration and strengthen system efficiency.

Within this context, the provincial government is also evaluating how to structure renewable supply contracts to maintain tariff competitiveness while safeguarding power system stability.

"There is a risk in determining what kind of contracts we establish and at what price, so that we can deliver the best possible service to the public," Mijich said during the panel "Competitiveness of renewable energy and energy storage in the Southern Cone.

Alongside the potential launch of new utility-scale tenders, Santa Fe is continuing to expand distributed generation (DG), mainly through its Prosumidores programme  one of Argentina"s pioneering renewable self-consumption schemes.

The initiative was launched between 2017 and 2018 and positioned Santa Fe as one of the first Argentine provinces to actively promote renewable self-generation.

Today, the programme includes around 1,500 prosumers  consumers who both produce and consume electricity  representing close to 10 MW of installed distributed capacity across residential users, commercial facilities, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and large electricity consumers.

Demand from the productive sector has been particularly strong, registering around 35% growth in interest for distributed generation solutions.

A key driver of the programme"s next growth phase could be community-based distributed generation projects, where private companies collaborate to develop solar PV plants that supply their collective electricity consumption.

"We want to take Prosumidores to the next level, and we are working on it with the Provincial Energy Company (EPE)," Mijich explained.

"We have seen strong results with collaborative solar parks  not only among residential users but also among private companies.

The installation cap is linked to average electricity consumption, which has proven highly impactful, and we want to continue developing this model.

However, provincial authorities acknowledge that the expansion of private renewable contracts and community solar projects may alter the traditional role of distribution companies.

"We know these initiatives can disrupt the traditional operation of electricity distributors," Mijich added.

"If private actors are able to sign their own power supply contracts, we must also analyse how that affects distribution companies and ensure there is no risk of financial imbalance within the system.