Armstrong electric cooperative develops energy transition program

The Cooperativa de Provisión de Obras y Servicios Públicos Limitada y Crédito de Armstrong (Celar) was selected by the national government, together with 13 other projects, to develop a renewable energy implementation program. This is an energy management plan through the integration of lithium batteries to the grid, developed together with the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN) and the Universidad de San Martín (Unsam).

The funds were awarded to 25 public and private institutions for 1,170 million pesos in a call that seeks to strengthen local scientific, technological and innovation capacities that contribute to the national energy transition process. In the case of Celar, the subsidy granted amounts to more than 54 million pesos.

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the program, the Minister of Science and Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmus, said -during the official ceremony held at the headquarters of the School of Engineering of the University of Buenos Aires- that "this call achieves different types of articulations: at federal level; between a model of technological development of the State and the private sector and, also, between basic research and application capacity. The articulation, at different levels, and the creation of networks, are essential to promote our own view of development based on our own capabilities".

He also explained that "the Ministry of Science and the R&D Agency serve to support development. The different issues we face, such as health, environment and energy transition, have the same central axis: sovereignty".

On the other hand, he assessed that "there is a tendency to primarization and that our countries export products without added value, that is why our mission is to foster the conditions to develop our own technologies, which is what generates jobs, welfare and allows a growth model that at the same time that produces wealth, distributes it".

Principios

La Celar, founded in 1958, has almost five thousand associates and a marked search for the development of renewable and sustainable energy. In 2017 they inaugurated a solar energy park with an installed power of 200 kilowatts per hour, to supply energy to homes and which is added to the smart grid of the locality.

The initiative integrates in a single project a series of aspects that allow aspiring to a larger scale projection. It aims at the realization of smart grids with renewable energies for distributed generation with the participation of the users and the integration of the local productive environment, since national equipment was prioritized.

In addition, this project was carried out through a complex integration and compatibilization process that lays the foundations for replicability. To carry it out, a public-private associative consortium was created, formed by the National Institute of Industrial Technology, the UTN, Regional Rosario and Celar, and it was part of the Smart Grids with Renewable Energies Project (Prier).

The second stage of this project consists of the generation of solar energy at home, through the installation of 50 panels on the roofs of houses. The idea behind this innovation is to move from a model of few and large energy generators to one with a greater presence of many small generation sources, installed closer to consumption sites. This implies a change of paradigm in the energy generation model with a greater decentralization criterion, with another citizen protagonism and incorporating the concept of energy generating users.

The cooperative principles and values are reinforced through this project, since the energy savings of these first 50 roofs will be destined to a solidarity fund that will allow the purchase of new panels to equip the rest of the community's homes with solar energy.