Total Eren, a renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) based in Paris, France, has announced the successful commissioning of its 50.4 MW ‘Malaspina’ wind project in southern Argentina. ‘Malaspina’ is Total Eren’s second renewable energy project to be commissioned in the country.
The ‘Malaspina’ wind farm is located in the Chubut province, one of the five Patagonian provinces which lies on the Atlantic coast and where average wind speeds can exceed 10 m/s (comparable with locations of offshore wind farms in the German part of the North Sea).
The wind farm was co-financed by KfW IPEX-Bank and FMO in December 2018 and holds a US-based 20-year power purchase agreement with CAMMESA, the Argentinian administrator of the wholesale electricity market. It is equipped with 14 type 3.6M114NES wind turbines from the German company Senvion, and is expected to produce 245 GWh/y, enough to supply the need of 60 000 homes in Argentina.
Total Eren was one of the first European developers to be active in Argentina following the first round of the national RenovAr programme in 2016. Currently, the company owns three solar and wind power plants totalling 180 MW in operation or under construction in the country, all of them benefiting from a 20-year power purchase agreement with CAMMESA.
Besides ‘Malaspina’, Total Eren is building another wind farm named ‘Vientos Los Hercules’ (97.2 MW) in the Santa Cruz Province, in which Mitsui & Co., Ltd owns a 34% stake, and had commissioned a 30 MWp solar photovoltaic farm named ‘Caldenes del Oeste’ in the San Luis Province in August 2018.
Alongside these projects, Total Eren has engaged in more than 600 dialogue opportunities and 150 community development activities with local stakeholders. The company helped in providing scholarships for university and high school students, organising environmental awareness workshops and activities to develop different community skills, delivering tools to help decrease the digital gap, providing access to drinking water, improving community road safety, and contributing to the fight against COVID-19, among other community needs.
In addition to its 180 MW of renewable energy assets in Argentina, Total Eren owns 190 MWp of solar capacity under construction in Chile and 300 MW of solar and wind power plants in operation or under construction in Brazil.
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