Argentina Inaugurates First Solar Photovoltaic Plant in Latin America

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Latin America (Cordoba, Argentina)--San Juan I, Latin America's first photovoltaic (PV) solar power plant, was inaugurated April 18 by Jose Luis Gioja, the governor of San Juan province. This "pilot" project is one of a number of alternative energy undertakings to be developed in Argentina's central-western province of San Juan.

The plant is the first operational PV solar facility in Latin America, with the capacity of producing 1.2 megawatts (MW) of clean energy. More than 4,000 mobile and fixed panels will occupy a 6-hectare area and will be able to meet the power demand of between 1,000 and 1,500 households. The facility is 30 kilometers from the capital city of San Juan, between the towns of Ullum and Matagusanos.

At a total cost of $12 million, the development was fully financed by the provincial government. The construction was performed by the Spanish-Argentinean joint venture Comsa (Barcelona, Spain).

In addition to the solar developments, Gioja mentioned the advancement of a "wind map" in San Juan, for which wind studies are being performed. The areas under study are Cuesta del Viento, which is in the Iglesia department, and La Pampa del Leoncito. There is a more advanced wind project under analysis: the Cuesta del Viento project, with a capacity of 46 MW in Rodeo. Construction on this park is scheduled for early 2012.

These initiatives are part of the Genren program put forward by Argentina's government in 2009 and awarded to 12 private companies by state power company Enarsa in July 2010. The Genren tender consisted of 754 MW of wind and a total of 895 MW of renewable projects, including solar PV, hydro and biofuels. For more information, see March 2, 2011, article - Argentine Companies to Invest in Four Power Plants Based on Soybean and Waste Cooking Oils.

Regarding solar projects, a total of 20 MW of PV solar capacity were awarded and are to be developed by private companies in the next two to three years. One of the projects in a more advanced stage of development is the 10-MW Canada Honda PV solar facility, to be constructed in San Juan's southern region of Canada Honda and developed by a subsidiary of local firm Emgasud S.A. (Buenos Aires).

Also, the 10-MW Chimbera project is an undertaking awarded to Energias Sustentables S.A., another subsidiary of Emgasud that envisions the construction of a 10-MW PV solar facility in three phases, also in Canada Honda.

Argentina is moving gradually into alternative energy, in an effort to change the future energy matrix toward more sustainable and renewable sources of energy.

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