Argentina's solar energy business is set to quadruple
Strong investments in renewable energies are an important result of the new political situation in Argentina. The new President, Mauricio Macri, who has been in charge since November 2015, established that green energy targets for the end of 2017 should be at eight percent of total energy generation (Argentina currently gets less than 2 percent of its power from renewable energy)
In July 2016 the Argentinian government started the second stage of PERMER (Project Renewable Energy in Rural Markets) for the supply and installation of approximately 6500 solar photovoltaic equipment and internal installations in rural households of Catamarca, Chaco, Entre Rios, La Pampa, Salta and Neuquén. The first stage of the PERMER project ended in 2012 and enabled the electrification of approximately 1,800 schools, 350 public services and 27,000 residences. This second stage aims to continue the electrification and achieve universal access to energy.
Omron, worldwide market leader for industrial automation products, and, according to IHS Research Q42015 one of the top five PV inverter suppliers worldwide, is ready to realise these new opportunities thanks to the cooperation with Ecoenergy, a company with Italian capital involvement, already working in the country. Some KP100L inverters have been installed on a 30 KWp plant in Entre Rios Province, one of the most suitable areas for PV energy production, with average daily solar radiation of 1.600 Wh/m2
"The plant is on the roof of Las Camelias, a leading poultry producer in Argentina," says Luca Bocchi, Ecoenergy President. "This installation gave us the opportunity to fine-tune our organization, so that our team in Italy is responsible for design and project management, and local technicians, trained by Italian engineers, are responsible for solar panel assembly and connection to the grid. This is a pilot project to be repeated in large scale. All projects will be managed from Italy, that's why we need reliable technology and we choose the KP100L inverter from Omron, which guarantees high performances and the financial solidity of a multinational company".
"Omron follows the solar market evolution in different countries with great attention," says Stefano Corni, key account manager, Omron. "This plant in Argentina is a concrete testimonial of Omron's capability to support PV sector development all over the world, in cooperation with companies with a strong local presence."
