A lack of electricity transmission capacity is changing how energy projects are designed in Argentina. That was the case made by Matías Mladineo, new business lead at Coral Energía, at the BESS 2026 Seminar on battery energy storage systems (BESS), held on October 27 and 28 by the Argentine national committee of the International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE Argentina).
There, the company, part of Argentina’s Grupo Corven, presented its experience with the two battery storage parks it is developing in Buenos Aires province.
“Given the lack of transmission capacity, optimizing costs in project development has become essential to make areas with weaker energy resources viable. To that end, Coral is working on medium-scale hybrid projects closer to consumption points that eliminate curtailment risk, thereby reducing financing costs,” Mladineo said.
Curtailment is the cut in generation applied when the grid cannot take the energy produced. On the second day, Mladineo joined a panel with representatives of CAMMESA, the Argentine wholesale electricity market administrator, CIGRE Argentina and the energy consultancy Grupo Mercados Energéticos. According to the company, the discussion covered the need for a special regulatory framework for storage systems and the projected direction of the power market in the coming years.
The seminar, which the company described as the first event dedicated entirely to energy storage, brought together specialists from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the Dominican Republic. Coral Energía recently joined CIGRE Argentina as a member; the body is a forum for technical exchange on the operation, planning and regulation of the power system.
Two BESS Parks Awarded Under AlmaGBA
In 2025, Coral Energía was among the companies awarded in AlmaGBA, Argentina’s first tender dedicated specifically to battery storage. Its Coral BESS Pilar and Coral BESS Parque projects represent an estimated investment of $90 million and total 100 MW of capacity and 500 MWh of storage, equivalent to five hours of autonomy, according to the company.
The tender, launched by Argentina’s Secretariat of Energy to install batteries at critical nodes in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, on the networks of distributors Edenor and Edesur, drew 27 projects totaling 1,347 MW against an initial target of 500 MW. In the end, 713 MW were awarded, with an estimated investment of more than $540 million. Besides Coral Energía, the awardees included Aluar, Central Puerto, Genneia, MSU Green Energy, Rowing and YPF Luz.
“With our projects, we are building experience in implementing storage in Argentina, both to add capacity to the power system and to integrate renewable energy in isolated communities. We want to draw on that experience to contribute to the technical exchange that the development of this technology in the country requires,” said Natalia Del Cogliano, head of institutional relations at Coral Energía.
A Market Expanding to the Rest of the Country
AlmaGBA was followed by AlmaSADI, the nationwide tender to reinforce critical nodes of the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI), the national grid. Through Resolution 155/2026 issued by the Secretariat of Energy and published in Argentina’s Official Gazette on July 7, the national government awarded 700.5 MW across 20 projects from five companies, with an estimated investment of $700 million, after receiving 235 technical bids for 8,338 MW.
The same resolution provided for projects awarded in both tenders to be registered automatically in the National Registry of Electric Energy Storage Projects (RENPALMA).
On the regulatory front, the Secretariat of Energy’s Resolution 400/2025 recognized storage systems within the Wholesale Electricity Market (MEM) for the first time and introduced specific remuneration for four-hour batteries, according to the Strategic Energy portal.
Against that backdrop, Coral Energía said it has more than 259 MW awarded and under development in seven provinces, across solar parks and storage systems, and aims to reach 1 GW by 2030.