The Government is preparing a series of measures to avoid power outages in the coming summers based on the disbursement of million-dollar investments by the private sector. In the coming weeks it will launch calls for tenders to add generation capacity electric, expand transmission networks and battery energy storage of lithium so that the distributors of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA), Edenor and Edesuravailable at times of peak consumption.
The intention of the Ministry of Energy, headed by María del Carmen Tettamanti, is to present these tenders between January and February. But The maturation time of the investments does not fall below 12 months, so the electrical system would only be strengthened starting in the summer of 2026..
The robustness of the energy supply depends on several factors: the availability of thermal machines, which use gas, diesel or fuel oil; the amount of water that hydroelectric dams can turbine; the maintenance of the nuclear power plants, where Atucha I will be out of service at least until the beginning of 2027; the presence of wind and sun to generate renewable energy; the import capacity from neighboring countries and the state of the electrical transmission networks from their origin to the consumption centers.
Likewise, demand is sensitive mainly to extreme temperatures and tariffs. That’s why The Government wants to operate on everything within its reach so that there are no supply deficits or unnecessary stimuli to demand.
The tender for electricity storage would be the first to be published in the Official Gazette, possibly in the first fortnight of this month. It will be between 400 to 500 megawatts (MW) of power to be used during the 4 hours of peak consumption and buyers –offtakers– They will be Edenor and Edesur, with the Wholesale Electricity Market Administration Company (Cammesa, formed by the national State and private actors) as guarantor. For comparison, the AMBA uses about 12,000 MW during record demand times.
The batteries would only be available by the beginning of 2026 or the middle of that year and is a more expensive option than traditional ones, such as generation plants, but it will serve several purposes: reinforcing the system earlier than with new thermal machines, which could only be ready by 2027 or 2028; and establish a mechanism for return of medium and long-term contracts between private parties, with the State getting out of the way as intervener and planner.
Energy also wants add thermoelectric generation in the “critical nodes”, mainly in consumption centers such as Buenos Aires“in the market for a transition plan towards contractualization between private parties”, for which a series of measures to liberalize the wholesale market would be announced this month. In any case, the construction of new power plants or installation of thermal machines – available for a greater number of hours than renewable ones – They take no less than 24 months.
Last year, the former Secretary of Energy, Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo, first postponed and then suspended a tender that had been awarded at the end of 2023 by his predecessor Flavia Royón and the former minister and presidential candidate Sergio Massa, because he understood that these plants were “expensive.” “and its long-term supply contracts with Cammesa hindered the release of the market to private companies.
Another obstacle that the market has in reaching a contract scheme between private parties is that generators such as Central Puerto, Pampa Energía, YPF Luz, AES, Enel, Albanesi and MSU will need to directly purchase fuel from producers such as YPF, Total , PAE, Tecpetrol, Pampa, Pluspetrol and Harbor Energy, which today sell it to Cammesa and then distribute it to the power plants.
With a market between private parties, gas and electricity prices could drop. But the oil companies put together investment plans and took on debt based on contracts with the State (Gas Plan) until December 31, 2028, which function as “acquired rights” and are inviolable for the Government, which is looking for a way to provide guarantees and accelerate your plan.
Likewise and finally, the Ministry of Energy ruled out the collection of a fixed charge in the rates to finance electrical transmission works in advance. The tender to expand the networks will be carried out at private risk, which will charge in its prices the cost of financing that must be sought and will then be transferred to the rates in a longer period than the original 24-36 months.
With greater energy transportation capacity, the AMBA will be able to bring more than the current 7,000 MW of thermal and wind generation from Patagonia and the interior of Buenos Aires.