Mendoza leads provincial energy race: nearly 800 MW solar and unprecedented infrastructure offensive

While the country debates how to recover productive investment, Mendoza is already showing results. Energy and Environment Minister Jimena Latorre arrived at Argentina Energy Week with numbers that other provinces still cannot match: installed solar power approaching 800 MW, two national-scale parks already in commercial operation, and an electrical transmission plan aimed at unblocking the next wave of investment.

Latorre shared the panel “The role of provinces in Argentina’s energy sector” with Matías Tosso (La Pampa) and Sergio Mansur (Córdoba), but it was Mendoza that set the conversation’s pace: not only generation, but a complete model combining clean energy, transmission, hydrocarbons, and rules of the game for private capital.

The solar leap: from project to business model

The most compelling figure came from the minister herself: the province nearly quadrupled its photovoltaic capacity to approach 800 MW, with much of that jump bearing a clear signature: Empresa Mendocina de Energía (Emesa), functioning not as a developer, but as a project catalyst that later passes to private hands.

In fact, it is a public management model that attracts capital rather than replacing it — and it already has concrete results on the ground:

• El Quemado Solar Park (Las Heras) — developed by YPF Luz.

• San Rafael Solar Park (Genneia) — in full commercial operation with 180 MW, one of the province’s largest renewable projects.

Argentina Energy Week.

The next challenge: moving the energy already being produced

But Mendoza doesn’t stop at megawatt announcements. Latorre was direct about the upcoming bottleneck: “We cannot continue adding generation capacity without the necessary infrastructure to transmit it”. This is why the province is simultaneously building two key network components:

• Valle de Uco Transformer Station: will reinforce supply for over 150,000 residents and sustain growth in wineries, industries, agribusiness, tourism, and new renewable projects in one of the province’s most dynamic zones.

• Mendoza North Transformer Station (220/132 kV): aims to protect Greater Mendoza from overloads and open the door to new productive and mining investments.

“We are building electrical infrastructure again”, the minister summarized — a phrase that functions almost as a management slogan.

A matrix playing on two boards at once

Mendoza doesn’t bet everything on renewables nor abandon its hydrocarbon history. Latorre put the figure on the table: the province has accumulated over a century of conventional development and today controls no less than 30% of Vaca Muerta, with unconventional development underway. Today its electrical matrix is split between 60% thermal and 40% renewable, with hydropower playing a significant role — a combination that gives it room for maneuver that few provinces have.

Predictability for capital to return

If anything Latorre made clear, it’s that infrastructure without stable rules isn’t enough. Her message to the private sector was almost a management commitment: “We need to provide certainty so that the private sector regains confidence in Argentina (…) and so those investments can be realized with sustainability”.

And she redefined what “sustainable” means in her administration: not only environmental, but the capacity to plan, finance, and achieve long-term returns. A direct message to investors still watching Argentina from the outside.

An example: El Quemado solar park.

Mendoza sets the agenda

Facing Córdoba and La Pampa — which presented more general approaches to territorial planning — Mendoza arrived at the panel with a combination hard to match: concrete figures, parks already operating, transmission works underway, and a clear message to private capital. In a national context where energy investment is scarce, the province positions itself as the case to follow.