Argentina has officially opened the technical proposals for its landmark national energy storage tender, Alma SADI, a key renewable energy initiative launched in March this year.
Designed to bolster the stability of the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI), the Alma SADI programme plans to deploy battery energy storage systems (BESS) at key grid nodes across six major regional areas, including NOA, NEA, Central, Litoral, Cuyo and Buenos Aires (excluding the AMBA metropolitan area). The core goal of the project is to enhance national power grid reliability and minimize electricity service outages, especially during periods of peak power demand.
The tender has attracted an extraordinary market response. A total of 37 domestic and international companies submitted 235 BESS projects, totaling a proposed installed capacity of 8,335 MW. This figure is approximately 12 times the original tender target of 700 MW, marking a 1,090% oversubscription and demonstrating robust industry confidence in Argentina’s energy storage sector.
Argentina’s wholesale electricity market administrator CAMMESA will lead the comprehensive evaluation of all submitted technical bids. According to the official timeline, technical evaluation results will be released on June 16, followed by the opening of financial bids on June 24, with final contract awards scheduled for early July.
CAMMESA estimates that the first phase of the Alma SADI project, targeting the 700 MW capacity goal, will require a total investment of around $700 million, translating to an average investment of $1 million per MW.
The Alma SADI tender builds on Argentina’s first large-scale energy storage procurement project, ALMA-GBA (Greater Buenos Aires Storage), which was awarded in early September last year. The ALMA-GBA project secured 713 MW of energy storage capacity for critical grid points in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA), surpassing its initial target by over 40% with an estimated investment exceeding $540 million. Construction work for the ALMA-GBA project is currently in progress across the region.
