Argentina opens new renewables round with only 50 MW of firm grid capacity
- Özcan Berk Atakan
- Jan 11
- 2 min read
The fourth-quarter 2025 call for Argentina’s renewable PPA market is now open, but with very limited transmission availability and growing risks for project developers.
Argentina’s wholesale electricity market operator, CAMMESA, has launched a new bidding round under the country’s Mercado a Término de Energías Renovables (MATER), corresponding to the fourth quarter of 2025.
However, the window for new renewable energy projects comes with significant technical constraints: only 50 MW of firm, unrestricted transmission capacity is currently available across the national grid.
According to Annexe III published on CAMMESA’s official website, this fully available capacity is restricted to the Misiones–NEA–Litoral corridor. All remaining capacity is classified under the so-called Referential A scheme, which allows for up to 8% generation curtailment until new transmission infrastructure is commissioned.
Under this restricted modality, CAMMESA has identified three corridors where capacity can be allocated:
Patagonia – Buenos Aires Province: 190 MW available, plus an additional 200 MW exclusively for solar PV projects
Centre – Cuyo – NOA: only 32 MW, limited to wind power projects
Misiones – NEA – Litoral: up to 475 MW
Project applications will be accepted until Friday, 16 January 2026. If demand exceeds available capacity, CAMMESA will announce on 3 February which projects must enter a tie-breaking mechanism, with final awards scheduled for Friday, 13 February.
One of the most sensitive aspects of the call is that projects awarded capacity under restricted conditions will not be able to effectively exercise dispatch priority if the associated transmission works are not yet operational.
CAMMESA explicitly states that, in such cases, “the granted dispatch priority cannot be made effective until commercial commissioning is completed,” stressing that developers bear full responsibility for evacuation risks and delays in grid authorisation.
Among the key transmission assets referenced are the Ampajango 220/132/33 kV substation, New San Juan South, the second San Juan 500/132 kV transformer, and several high-voltage lines across La Rioja, San Juan, Santiago del Estero, San Luis and Patagonia.
CAMMESA’s latest MATER status report shows sustained growth in awarded projects, but also highlights persistent operational bottlenecks.
So far, 136 projects have been granted dispatch priority, representing 6,019.7 MW. Of these, 96 projects (3,726.5 MW) belong to the fully firm MATER segment, while 40 projects (2,293.2 MW) fall under Referential A. Yet only 85 projects are currently in commercial operation, totalling 3,646.5 MW of effective capacity.
An additional 3,015 MW has been allocated through projects tied to new transmission works, or demand increases under Resolution SE 360/23, a mechanism that has expanded gradually as the sector awaits large-scale grid tenders.
In this context, Argentina’s Secretaría de Energía has already defined AMBA I, the Río Diamante–Charlone–O’Higgins line, and the Puerto Madryn–Choele Choel–Bahía Blanca corridor as the first transmission projects to be concessioned to the private sector through national and international tenders.
The most concerning figure in CAMMESA’s report is the 3,357.4 MW of capacity withdrawn after developers chose not to maintain their dispatch priority once the payment scheme to retain it came into force.
This trend reflects the growing financial and technical pressure faced by renewable energy projects in Argentina, as firm, unconstrained transmission capacity becomes increasingly scarce and grid risk shifts more heavily onto private investors.
