Argentine province seeks to leverage renewable potential for public transport

Argentina’s San Juan province plans to take advantage of its renewable generation capacity to use electromobility for public transport.

The province began a pilot program last year with two electric buses, and is set to open its first charging station soon, which will have capacity to power six buses.

“Of course we would like to have many more units working right now, and we are negotiating 50 electric buses with green funds,” San Juan’s mobility transit and planning director Carlos Romero said during a webinar organized by platform Move on the province’s experience with electromobility.

He added that 100 electric buses could operate in about a year, as the pilot also included training for over 1,200 bus drivers, while authorities took lessons from Chile’s successful experience. Santiago has the largest electric public transport fleet in any city outside of China. 

During the same webinar, the province’s transport secretary Jorge Armendariz added that the step toward electromobility was imminent, given San Juan’s status as a major solar hub. “More than a bet, this is a political decision,” he said.

The province has solar generation capacity of 300MW distributed across 16 parks, while another four are under construction, adding 243MW.