The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Financial decision · 2016–2018
Argentina's RenovAr auctions bought clean power below 2015 generation cost
World Bank-guaranteed RenovAr auctions awarded 1,142 MW at 6.13¢/kWh — under the 7.05¢ 2015 average — and 2.4 GW in nine months.
Government of Argentina · World Bank Group
the move
Argentina had some of the world's best wind and solar resources but produced just 1.8% of its electricity from renewables in 2015, because developers could not finance projects against a country with a record of payment reversals. In May 2016 the government launched RenovAr, an auction program under which CAMMESA, the market administrator, signed 20-year power purchase agreements with winning private developers.
The design made the promised payments credible: a FODER trust backed the PPAs, and the World Bank added a $480 million IBRD guarantee covering the government's payment obligations — the first time the Bank had guaranteed a whole program rather than a single project. Bidders could choose to include the guarantee in their offers.
Round 1 drew 123 bids offering 6,343 MW for the 1,000 MW on offer; 29 projects totaling 1,142 MW were awarded at an average 6.13 US cents/kWh, below Argentina's 2015 average generation cost of 7.05 cents. A second round in November 2016 cut prices to 5.33 cents for wind and 5.44 for solar, and the program awarded 2.4 GW in its first nine months, mobilizing about $3.2 billion.
why it works
- A program-level IBRD guarantee backstopped sovereign payment risk that investors otherwise price into bids.
- Long, bankable 20-year PPAs let developers finance plants instead of speculating on spot prices.
- Six-fold oversubscription showed the structure, not just the resource, attracted capital.
- Awarded prices below the 2015 generation average made clean power cheaper than the status quo.
what transfers
Investors will not bid low into a sovereign they do not trust; guarantee the payment stream once at program level, and competition does the rest.
what came after
Later RenovAr rounds kept cutting prices and broadened the technology mix, moving Argentina toward its 20%-renewables-by-2025 target; the program-level guarantee became a template the World Bank reused for auctions in other emerging markets.
references
- Argentina: Renewable Energy Auctions (Financial Solutions Brief)
- Argentina: Renewable Energy Auctions (Project Highlights)
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