Argentine aluminum producer begins US$400mn wind park expansion

Argentine aluminum producer Aluar has begun construction work on a 336MW expansion of its renewable energy park in Puerto Madryn, Chubut province.

In a filing sent to securities commission CNV, the company said the US$400mn project involves 56 Goldwind turbines, which will ramp up park capacity to 582MW.

“Aluar continues progressing with the substitution of fossil energy with clean energy generation, fully in line with the commitment to sustainability and the reduction of aluminum production’s carbon footprint,” company chair Alberto Martínez said in the filing. 

Earlier this year Aluar had told the market the project was in the pipeline.

Output will help power its energy-hungry 460,000t/y primary aluminum plant.

The addition, known as stage V, will follow the latest expansion, stage IV involving 81MW, which took capacity to 246MW.  

According to an environmental impact study carried out by Terramoena, stage V will include a 35km power line and other supporting infrastructure.

“This new expansion responds to the need to have new alternatives of generating power in the region that do not affect the environment and that displace the use of non-renewable resources,” the study states.

A stage VI expansion is also mulled, involving 33 Goldwind turbines, ramping up capacity by 198MW.

The company has also filed documents for a 50MW solar park.

Aluar submitted a 49MW Santa Cruz province gas-fired project in recent thermoelectric supply auction TerCONF but was not awarded a contract. The auction has been scrapped.