2016
On April 21, a new assembly was held at INVAP’s headquarters in the city of Buenos Aires by the shareholders and Board of Directors of the state-owned company Eólica Rionegrina S.A., established by INVAP S.E. (an Argentine state-owned applied research company) and TRANSCOMAHUE S.A. (a provincial company of power transmission).
In the meeting, the Secretary of Electric Power, Andrea Confini, was appointed as Vice-president. And the tasks to bring the wind project at the Mount Policía plateau into completion were allocated.
Confini was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Energy, Sebastián Caldiero with whom she met the potential investors that, a month ago, signed a memorandum of agreement with INVAP to carry out the works. The investment will be made in stages by Dow Argentina. Its President for the South Region of Latin America, Gastón Remy, was the representative of the US chemical multinational during the meeting.
The memorandum of agreement signed by Dow specified that the aim was to carry out the project in two stages. The first stage will involve an investment of approximately fifty million dollar, and will include the installation of five windmills (with 15 MW of power capacity), transformers and transmission equipment to connect the field with the Comahue electric distribution system. The project will involve the installation of a 132 KW high-tension line (LAT, in Spanish), 30 kilometers in the direction of El Chocón. The second stage should reach 50 MW of power capacity (20 wind turbines) and will imply a total investment of 123 million dollars.
Caldiero considered the meeting with Dow as “very positive.” “We noticed on the part of the firm great enthusiasm and willingness to carry out our project. We also expect the participation of other investors that will be always under the supervision of the Province of Río Negro. This could be possible since the expansion works will be carried out in different stages,” he added.
On her part, Confini explained that “during the meeting, progress was made on the financial and commercial structure of Eólica Rionegrina. The aim of the province is to contribute to the diversification of the Argentine energetic matrix.”
“The intention of encouraging and implementing mixed economic models will increase the investments that Río Negro needs to exploit our potential for the renewable energy production. This is what the Governor Alberto Weretilneck has entrusted to us, and so, we hope to turn Río Negro into an energetically sustainable province and a leading representative of the sector,” she concluded.
