Argentina as an energy hub: towards a sustainable and sustainable future

Recently, the IDEA Energy 2023 Experience was held, which brought together the main leaders of the energy sector to discuss the possibility that the international context represents for the country and the urgency towards the local energy transition. On this occasion, one of the main points of debate was the lack of infrastructure for electricity transmission and distribution throughout Argentina.

Globally, 80% of the energy we use still comes from fossil fuels. The same happens in Argentina, within the electricity sector, renewables today account for 15%, and almost 70% of that percentage comes from wind power. However, of all the energy consumed in the country, including industry, heating and transportation, renewable energy is only 1% or 2% maximum. Our possibility of electrifying the economy is much greater, building the lines is a real necessity to be able to take that energy to the whole country.

After several years of hard work, we are seeing a high consensus within the energy sector regarding a more sustainable future. To achieve this transformation and our supply, we must take advantage of the capacity of renewables as well as the gas from Vaca Muerta, in order to facilitate our progress towards becoming an energy exporting country and favor the growth that our economy needs.

Each country is making its way towards decarbonization, in our case it is vital to take advantage of gas, since it is the least polluting of the fossil fuels. And I refer to this because if we aspire to transform our energy matrix into a greener one, it is undoubtedly important to count on gas as a transitional energy agent.

But in order to take the step between the analysis of the energy strategy that Argentina should adopt, we must take concrete actions now. Following the COP commitments and state policies already announced in the last year, we need to install at least 250 GW per year of new renewable energy facilities globally, and currently the capacity is only between 50 and 60 GW. So we must accelerate installations, but also increase the scale of each project, because otherwise we will not even be able to keep up with global energy growth with new renewable installations.

From the point of view of Latin America, it is known by all that we have very good opportunities because we have a large continent with low population density compared to other regions, and we can make use of large land areas even unlike other regions that need to go to maritime territory to take advantage of its winds. We are a region with the potential to support the global energy transition, through the development of a green hydrogen supply market and new wind farms in the coarse and privileged geography of the continent, will allow us to bring that wind energy in H2 molecules or derivatives to the whole world. In our country, Patagonia is an area of excellent winds, it has a low population density and with the technology that is being developed to build wind farms, we could export renewable energy to any latitude.

But all this depends, to a large extent, on the progress of projects that develop, extend and strengthen the electric grids. One of the main priorities of our sector is precisely to make progress in these grids and adopt new technologies so that we are at parity with the most competitive markets.

The infrastructure works to be carried out are complex, but we have the capacity to do them. In this sense, the public-private articulation to accelerate the construction of these lines is a key point. There is already an ambition on the part of the private sector to build and take part of the risk of this construction, in order to contribute to the acceleration of the energy transition. But for these mega-projects to take place over time, it is vital to give continuity to the energy policies that regulate the sector.

Argentina is facing a unique opportunity. Combining gas, lithium, which is present in the north, and renewable energies, which cover a large portion of the country, will allow us to position ourselves as an attractive energy hub for the international market. The future must be economically and environmentally sustainable, and that is the direction in which companies like Vestas, which seek to generate a positive change for society and the planet, must work. The markets are watching and waiting for us, let's accelerate our progress towards a sustainable and sustainable future.

*Andrés Gismondi, Vice President of Sales at Vestas LATAM and founding member of the Argentine Wind Energy Chamber.