Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Wind Country Notes

Argentina
Argentina is a country with a good wind resource. It is estimated that currently the Pampa Plain has the highest concentration of wind turbines in the world, with more than 400 000 existing installations. Certainly, the role of wind energy has been significant in the development of the country's agricultural and farming sectors.

With regard to electric power generation, Argentina currently has 12 wind farms located in 5 different provinces, with a total installed power of 27.7 MW. Many of the farms have been developed under the protection of the National System of Wind and Solar Energy passed by Act 25019/98. Among other tax concessions this saw the granting of a US$ 10 subsidy per MWh generated and transferred to the electricity grid. However, Argentina's current use of wind energy bears little relation to its immense potential. It has been calculated that the Patagonian wind potential south of parallel 42 is many times higher than the potential represented by the total annual Argentine oil production. Furthermore, it is not only the southern end of Argentina that presents favourable conditions for the installation of wind farms; there are many other suitable regions: in almost all the territory of the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén; in many highland and coastal areas of the province of Buenos Aires as well as in many other sites in the rest of the country.

The National Wind Energy Plan, commissioned by the Ministry of Federal Planning and being implemented by the Chubut Regional Wind Energy Centre (CREE), lays the foundations for the first significant national development in this field. The Plan comprises both the compilation of a national wind map as well as the installation of numerous wind farms, with an aggregate power of about 300 MW to be achieved in about three years. The first stage of the Plan comprises the completion of the project Vientos de la Patagonia I (Patagonian Winds I), which comprises the construction of a wind farm of 50-60 MW near the city of Comodoro Rivadavia in Chubut province, although in subsequent stages it foresees the installation of similar farms in the provinces of Santa Cruz, Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén, La Rioja and San Juan.