The world is becoming more aware of global warming, caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, and other factors. Added to the pressure from environmental associations, they are achieving changes in energy consumption parameters. In particular, reference is made to the use of renewable and non-polluting energy instead of oil and liquid fuels.

In that sense, the increase in the participation of Renewable Energy, in the energy matrix of different countries, is one of the solutions that are being implemented to alleviate the problem of climate change. Although our country is not a pioneer, it can be seen in our report that changes have begun.

Argentina is a country that has unbeatable conditions to develop renewable energies. However, as can be seen in the following graph, its development is still very delayed. More than half of the installed power being small hydraulic uses installed more than twenty years ago.

It can be seen in the following graph that Argentina is lagging behind other countries, even compared to Latin American neighbors in the development of renewable energies. They explain 1,0% of aggregate consumption, when the world average is 2,8% and in Latin America they represent 3,5%.

This delay may be due, on the one hand, to the high cost of capital which represents the generation of renewable energy, which once in operation will reduce expenses to a minimum. The opposite occurs with a thermal power plant, and it can operate with a much higher load factor. 

The load factor is the relationship between the consumption during a given period of time and the consumption that would have resulted from the continuous use of the maximum contracted power during that period. It is used to determine if the power contracted by a company is adequate in relation to its effective consumption.

Un paradigmatic case It was the "GEREN" program that was launched in our country in 2009, with the objective of incorporating 1 GM of electrical power with renewable energy. It offered very attractive prices, but less than 10% of the projects ended up coming to fruition, which meant a resounding failure. The problem is that the great detractor of the development of renewable energies is the regulatory framework.

Starting in 2016, hopes for renewable energies are renewed, and this is due to the regulation of Law 27.191, which establishes goals for the participation of this type of energy in the energy matrix. However, a Law is not enough to guarantee the advancement of these sources, but the change in the political cycle seems to have motivated investors, added to the correct design of the contracting forms.

The initial results are being more than encouraging. To learn even more about the current state of affairs, we invite you to deepen the analysis of the data, reading our special report that we make available below…