In order to increase its renewable energy capacity, Argentina will install a solar park with an estimated power of 200 MW that will provide clean electricity for businesses and industries and to cover the consumption demand of the surrounding population. The new solar panels that will be incorporated into the electrical grid in the province of Mendoza correspond to the latest bifacial generation.
YPF Luz announces the installation of a new solar park in Mendoza
The energy company dependent on the Argentine sovereign oil company YPF seeks to reaffirm its federal presence to provide renewable energy to the country with the installation of a new solar park in the Cuyo region of the country.
In this way, and within the framework of the Renewable Energy Term Market (MATER), YPF Luz will establish some 330 thousand solar panels in the Department of Las Heras, located about 50 km from the capital city of Mendoza and 13 km from the town of Jocolí.
The El Quemado 1 solar park, as it has been called, is a collaborative project with the Mendoza energy company EMESA that will develop this photovoltaic complex in a high area with greater radiation, an estimated capacity factor of 31.4%.
The project designed in two stages will begin with the placement of 330,000 bifacial state-of-the-art solar panels to obtain a greater capacity to capture the sun’s rays, located on a total surface area of ??350 hectares.
What will YPF Luz’s new solar panel project be like?
Within the first phase of the project that will install solar panels with a power of 200 MW that will be able to supply 150,000 homes, it is expected that this renewable energy can help reduce 250,000 tons of carbon per year.
After an 18-month construction period, the solar plant will be able to begin operations within the first quarter of 2026, which is estimated to require an investment of 170 million dollars to generate clean energy through solar panels.
In this regard, YPF Luz CEO Martín Mandarano said: “We are happy to announce this project that reaffirms our commitment to our strategy of supporting companies and industries to produce with efficient and sustainable energy.”
“This new park allows us to expand the development of our operations throughout the country to eight provinces to continue diversifying the national energy matrix,” said Mandarano, who pointed out that El Quemado 1 will reach 915 MW of installed renewable energy capacity
With this solar panel project, the energy company has approximately 497 MW in operation and 418 MW under construction with the 155 MW General Levalle Wind Farm in the province of Córdoba and the 63 MW CASA Wind Farm, located in Olavarría, province of Buenos Aires.
El Quemado 1 reaffirms Argentina’s renewable energy project
Among the considerations that stand out most within the project that will install high-tech solar panels in the province of Mendoza, is the generation of local employment that will provide work for more than 400 workers and strengthen the rural economy.
In its final stage, the El Quemado 1 Solar Park will be interconnected to the Argentine Electric Transport System through the existing 220 kV High Voltage Line “Cruz de Piedra de Mendoza – San Juan” which includes the construction of the new El Quemado Transformer Substation.
Despite the initiative of several governments to privatize the sovereign company YPF, reconstituted as a state company in 2012 and put back into free will by the current leadership of Javier Milei, the Argentine energy company continues to grow and now incorporates more renewable projects for the country’s clean transition with facilities that combine wind turbines and solar panels.
