Energy in Argentina
| Data | |
|---|---|
| Electricity coverage (2003) | 95% (total), 70% (rural); (LAC total average in 2007: 92%) |
| Installed capacity (2015) | 33,141 MW |
| Share of fossil energy | 60.60% |
| Share of renewable energy | 34.1% (including large hydropower) |
| GHG emissions from electricity generation (2011) | 67.32 Mt CO2 |
| Average electricity use (2014) | 3,050 kWh per capita |
| Distribution losses (2014) | 3.3 %; (LAC average in 2005: 13.6%) |
| Residential consumption (% of total) |
41% |
| Industrial consumption (% of total) |
45% |
| Commercial and public consumption (% of total) |
13% |
| Average residential tariff (US$/kW·h, 2004) |
0.0380; (LAC average in 2005: 0.115) |
| Average industrial tariff (US$/kW·h, 2006) |
0.0386 (LAC average in 2005: 0.107) |
| Services | |
| Sector unbundling | Yes |
| Share of private sector in generation | 75% |
| Share of private sector in transmission | 0% |
| Share of private sector in distribution | 75% |
| Competitive supply to large users | Yes |
| Competitive supply to residential users | No |
| Institutions | |
| No. of service providers | dominating 3 distributors: Edenor, Edesur & Edelap |
| Responsibility for transmission | Transener |
| Responsibility for regulation | National agency (ENRE) and provincial agencies |
| Responsibility for policy-setting | Energy Secretariat |
| Responsibility for the environment | Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development |
| Electricity sector law | Yes (1991) |
| Renewable energy law | Yes (1998, modified in 2007) |
| CDM transactions related to the electricity sector | 3 registered CDM projects; 673,650 t CO2e annual emissions reductions |
The electricity sector in Argentina constitutes the third largest power market in Latin America. It relies mostly on thermal generation (60% of installed capacity) and hydropower generation (36%). The country still has a large untapped hydroelectric potential. The prevailing natural gas-fired thermal generation is at risk due to the uncertainty about future gas supply.
Faced with rising electricity demand (over 6% annually) and declining reserve margins, the government of Argentina is in the process of commissioning large projects, both in the generation and transmission sectors. To keep up with rising demand, it is estimated that about 1,000 MW of new generation capacity are needed each year. An important number of these projects are being financed by the government through trust funds, while independent private initiative is still limited as it has not fully recovered yet from the effects of the Argentine economic crisis.
The electricity sector was unbundled in generation, transmission and distribution by the reforms carried out in the early 1990s. Generation occurs in a competitive and mostly liberalized market in which 75% of the generation capacity is owned by private utilities. In contrast, the transmission and distribution sectors are highly regulated and much less competitive than generation.
Thermal plants fueled by natural gas (CCGT) are the leading source of electricity generation in Argentina. Argentina generates electricity using thermal power plants based on fossil fuels (60%), hydroelectric plants (36%), and nuclear plants (3%), while wind and solar power accounted for less than 1%. Installed nominal capacity in 2014 was 31,047 MW. However, this scenario of gas dominance is likely to undergo changes due to gas exhaustion derived from the existing "bottlenecks" in exploration and production (E+P) and pipeline capacity. Gas output dropped for the first time in 2005 (-1.4%) and gas reserves dropped to ten years of consumption by the end of 2004 (down from an average of 30 years in the 1980s). Today, gas reserves are 43% lower than in 2000. This situation is further aggravated by the uncertainty surrounding the gas deals with Bolivia and the plans to build new regional pipeline connections. Total generation in 2005 was 96.65 TW·h. In 2015, the Atucha II Nuclear Power Plant reached 100% power, increasing the percentage of nuclear power in Argentina from 7% to 10%.
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