Argentina's Energy Secretariat has announced the winning projects in the AlmaGBA battery tender, the country's first public and international call for bids focused on stand-alone energy storage systems. Ten projects totaling 667 MW of capacity were awarded to companies including Aluar , Central Puerto, Coral Energía, Genneia, MSU Green Energy, Rowing, and YPF Luz. The planned investment exceeds USD 540 million, and the projects are expected to be operational within 12 to 18 months. Why more capacity than initially planned? While the tender initially called for 500 MW of battery storage, the government added several bids to the list because they were priced at less than 90% of the maximum price.
That is to say, 517 MW were first awarded directly , coming from the 7 projects that this news portal reported on days ago ( see note ) at a weighted average price of 11337 USD/MWmes (75.6% above the Reference price).
In addition, the government determined the contracting of additional power from 3 other BESS systems totaling 150 MW , at an average of 12591 USD/MWmes (83.9% above the Reference price).
Of all the winning projects, most will be installed on Edenor's networks, with 7 projects totaling 500 MW, while 3 power plants with a capacity of 167 MW were allocated to Edesur's area.
On the other hand, the Argentine Energy Secretariat is also inviting five battery systems to improve their economic offers (in accordance with Article 19.4 of the Terms and Conditions) to be awarded an additional 222 MW of power. This is because they would not face limitations in the transmission system, but their current price is above the value allocated in this instance: an average of USD 14,729/MW/month (98.2% above the Reference Price).
"These Bidders must express their willingness to enter into the generation and storage contracts with distributors of the Wholesale Electricity Market (MEM) under the terms and conditions established in this article, expressly and in writing to CAMMESA, within 5 business days from the notification of this resolution," the resolution details. 