As reported, the leading renewable energy Independent Power Producer (“IPP”) based in Paris, Total Eren is pleased to announce 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 USD-based 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) 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 it is expected to produce 245 GWh per year, 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. Today, Total Eren owns three solar and wind power plants totaling 180 MW in operation or under construction in the country, all of them benefiting from a 20-year PPA 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 (PV) 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, organizing 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.
Fabienne Demol, Executive Vice-President and Global Head of Business Development of Total Eren, commented: “We are delighted to reach the commissioning of the Malaspina wind project, our second renewable energy project being commissioned in Argentina after the “Caldenes del Oeste” solar farm. This new achievement demonstrates our strong commitment to this market. I want to thank our teams for their determination and resilience to lead this project to a successful commissioning. Looking forward, I am eager to provide more competitive renewable energy solutions in Argentina and in Latin America.”
Martin Parodi, Managing Director of Total Eren in Argentina, added: “We are extremely pleased to have obtained commercial operation of our “Malaspina” wind farm, the result of two years of intense work. Construction and commissioning have not been easy due to the unique challenges we have faced (including Senvion insolvency and Covid 19). Nonetheless, thanks to the support and efforts of our lenders, suppliers and contractors, and especially to the amazing job done by our France and Argentina teams, we have been able to prevail and reach this very important milestone. We look forward to completing our ongoing projects and continuing to participate actively in the renewable energy sector of Argentina and Latin America.”
About Total Eren
Founded in 2012 by Pâris Mouratoglou and David Corchia, Total Eren develops, finances, builds and operates renewable energy power plants (solar, wind, hydro) representing a gross capacity of more than 3,300 MW in operation or under construction worldwide. Through partnerships with local developers, Total Eren is currently developing numerous energy projects in countries and regions where renewable energy represents an economically viable response to growing energy demand such as in Europe, in Central and South Asia, in Asia Pacific, in Latin America and in Africa. The objective is to achieve a global gross installed capacity of more than 5 GW by 2022. Since December 2017, Total S.A., the major energy company, has been participating as a shareholder of Total Eren.