Interview: China's technology, funds help Argentina promote energy matrix: wind farm president

China has offered key technology and funds for Argentina's renewable energy program to help promote the country's energy matrix.

"In Argentina, the energy matrix is mainly composed of derivatives of oil and to a lesser extent of coal, hydraulic and nuclear energy. This makes the relative cost of energy fluctuate based on the quantity of fuel available. If we don't have it then we need to import it with a constant flight of capital to balance the matrix," said Juan Fernando Carbel, president of Argentina's largest wind farm, Arauco Wind Farm, in the western province of La Rioja.

"Renewing this matrix is supposed to reduce the flight of capital and help the environment by collaborating to avoid the emission of carbon dioxide gas. Years ago a law was signed calling for 7 percent of energy to be generated from renewable materials, and within this framework La Rioja has been a pioneer in the development of a large-scale park," Carbel told Xinhua on Wednesday.

"The potential is immense. We could improve the current matrix with renewable resources such as solar, wind and hydraulic power. Arauco Park can generate 100 megawatts with what we currently have built, and we are looking to generate 300 more by building more (wind turbines) in the next four years," Carbel said, stressing that China's involvement in this project is key.

"There are 24 units (wind turbines) installed and 26 more are going to be installed. In the future we hope to install 150 more turbines in the whole valley. We are in talks with the company Hydrochina to assure the production of 100 megawatts from 50 turbines producing two megawatts each. We seek to find the technology that best adapts to the area," he said.

Negotiations are aimed at having 700-megawatt-producing units installed in two different areas located 100 km from each other. With this, investment will be over 1,200 million U.S. dollars in the future, Carbel said.

The Arauco Wind Farm is a provincial company which currently has 24 turbines installed with a power capacity of two megawatts each, and produces 180 thousand megawatt-hours per year. This is 25 percent of the province's energy consumption, he said.

"We are looking to develop a second unit with 26 turbines which will produce 210 thousand megawatt-hours per year. This is 40 percent of the province's hourly energy consumption per year," Carbel said.

"We are seeking funding. China has offered us a variety of technologies, a range of proposals, and we are selecting the ones that best fit our area... and we need to finish looking at the cost scheme so that it can adapt to our project," he added.

"In the Chinese proposals we saw the ability to provide ourselves with turbines. This comes with the possibility of funding and competitive development alongside other countries," Carbel said.

Furthermore, the wind farm president showed his interest in the area with the installation of Chinese factories to locally produce wind turbines.

"The province needs the factories to be installed to generate jobs. We would welcome the opportunity to interact with Chinese companies to develop common endeavors," Carbel said.

"There is a lot of interest because it would be much better to know that when we need to select a machine, the provider is close at hand. It would be friendlier for negotiations if a Chinese factory is located in the province. It would at least generate jobs for local people," Carbel noted. Endi