Call for Bids to Enter into “Storage Generation Contracts” in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA)
By means of Resolution No. 67 (“Resolution 67”) of the Secretariat of Energy, published on February 17, 2025, the Federal Government issued a National and International Open Call for Bids called “Almacenamiento AlmaGBA” (“Call for Bids”) with the aim of entering into “Storage Generation Contracts” (“Contracts”) with the distribution companies EDENOR and EDESUR. CAMMESA will act as the guarantor of payments as a last resort.
Pursuant to the Schedule of the Call for Bids attached to the Bidding Terms, it is estimated that: (i) the submission of bids will be on May 19, 2025, (ii) the award will take place on June 27, 2025, and (iii) the execution of the Contracts will begin on June 30, 2025.
The goal is to have energy storage systems that can meet short-duration capacity requirements and provide fast-response reserve services, as allowed by Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). The measure aims to meet demand requirements while expansion works on the transmission system are being developed to avoid overloads.
The most relevant aspects of Resolution 67 are the following:
• CAMMESA will carry out the Call for Bids procedure.
• The Bidding Terms for contracting in the AMBA region include, among other aspects, the following:
o Bids must ensure the provision of Supplied Energy and the availability of Contracted Capacity for at least four (4) consecutive hours per complete discharge cycle. This will be through new Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
o The target storage capacity to be awarded is up to 500 MW. The minimum capacity that can be offered per facility is 10 MW.
o The Contract shall include (i) a payment for Available Storage Capacity in U$S/MW-month, which will be determined based on the bid value —considering a maximum value of 15,000 U$S/MW-month—, the available storage, the ratio between validated storage hours and committed storage hours, and an annual factor, and (ii) a payment for Storage Supplied Energy of 10 U$S/MWh.
o The Contract term shall be a maximum of 15 years from its start date (i.e., the commercial operation date or January 1, 2027, whichever occurs first).
o CAMMESA shall act as the guarantor of last resort payment in cases where the distribution companies fail to make the required payments. The payment guarantee provided by CAMMESA will be for a maximum of twelve (12) consecutive months for the Contract remuneration amounts.
• The model “Storage Generation Contract” shall be approved and communicated in due course. Its publication is estimated to be on March 31, 2025.
• CAMMESA shall calculate the costs associated with the contracts entered into under the Call for Bids, to be transferred to the end users of the jurisdiction.
• Provincial jurisdictions —through their public distribution service companies— are invited to evaluate the authorization of the Call for Bids and to extend it to their concession area.
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