Argentina’s Winds Support Energy Change

Argentina is a country with enormous potential for harnessing wind energy. According to the Argentine Renewable Energy Chamber, more than 70% of the country has average wind speeds of more than 6m/s. Patagonia boasts far higher averages, with wind speeds between 9 – 12m/s.

In a country with such potential, very little has been done to harness this resource. This is partly due to previous economic uncertainty and unwillingness from European or American banks to provide loans into the country after defaulting on outstanding debt has made it difficult to find significant investment.

However, all that is about to change as Argentinian company, Generadora Eolica Argentina del Sur SA, is in the process of developing a wind farm that will be the largest on the South American Continent when complete. It will boast a total of 1350 MW, more than 4 times larger than Mexico’s 306MW cluster, and is expected to be completed in 2017.

The project will be based in the Chubut province of Argentina and is to cover 45 000 hectares. In order to link it to the national grid a power line of 295 km will have to be built. Due to the location of the project, being roughly 400km from the nearest port, it will require tremendous infrastructure to be developed on site in order to accommodate contractors and employees during construction.

The entire project is expected to cost around $3,5 billion and is possible largely thanks to a $3 billion loan from the China Development Banking Corporation in China. The turbines are to be supplied from a Chinese supplier and responsibility for construction will fall to the Beijing Construction Engineering Group.

The first 150MW is expected to come online in 2015 and upon completion the project will supply 4%  of the country’s electrical energy usage. This is a significant step towards the Government target of 8% of energy generated to be from alternative energy sources by 2016.

The Argentine government has clearly begun efforts to exploit the potential of wind energy in all it’s potential. It has begun working on a plan with local businesses in the wind energy sector in a drive that could create up to 10 000 jobs by developing up to 500 domestic suppliers for the industry.