On December the 27th, Law No. 27,424 regarding “Renewable Energy Distributed Generation Promotion Program” was published on the Official Gazette (hereinafter, the “Law”).

The Law declares distributed generation as national interest and establishes the legal and contractual conditions for the generation of renewable energy for users of the distribution grid for self-consumption and eventual delivery of surplus electricity to the network (the “Projects”).

Main aspects:

  1. Targeted Users
    • Users connected to the distribution grid are allowed to install the necessary equipment to generate distributed energy for a power capacity equivalent to the one contracted with the distribution company.
    • An authorization from the distribution company is requested.
    • Projects regarding the construction of national public buildings must include distributed generation systems from renewable resources.
    • An efficient energy system will be proposed for the existing public buildings.
  2. Connection Authorization
    • It shall be required to the distribution company.
    • Term for issuance: the same as established by the local regulation for the electricity meters.
    • It cannot be denied when the equipment has been certified.
    • The distribution company will technically asses the safety of the Project.
    • Once the Project is technically approved, the user-generator and the distribution company will execute an agreement.
    • Installation costs cannot exceed the costs for changing or installing electricity meters.
    • Penalties are established for distribution companies who do not comply with the terms established by the Law.
  3. Billing

    Every distribution company will compensate the generated electricity with the consumed electricity for each user, according to the following guidelines:

    • The user-generator shall be entitled to a special rate for the electricity delivered to the grid, according to the seasonal price.
    • The billing shall reflect the volume of required energy and the amount of the electricity delivered to the grid. The user shall pay the net result of those values.
    • Shall there be a surplus in favor of the user-generator, it will constitute a credit for future billings. If the credit is not cancelled, the user-generator can request such credit to the distribution company. The credits can be assigned between users interconnected to the same distribution company.
  4. Enforcement Authority

    The Law´s enforcement authority will be empowered to:

    • Issue technical and regulatory rules for the approval of the Project.
    • Issue technical rules and guidelines for interconnection authorizations to the grid.
    • Act as a trustor.
    • Fix the rate for the electricity delivered to the grid.
    • Settle the general guidelines for the agreements.
  5. FODIS

    The Law established the Renewable Energy Distributed Generation Fund (“FODIS” for its Spanish acronym).

    • Purpose: the use of the trust assets for the granting of loans, incentives, warranties, capital contributions and acquisitions of other financial instruments for the development of the Projects.
    • Parties: the enforcement authority will act as trustor and a public financial entity as the trustee. The owners of the Projects shall be the beneficiaries of the fund.
    • Trust Assets: (i) resources of the national budget that cannot be lower than the fifty per cent (50%) of the effective saving in fossil fuels due to the electricity generated by the Projects; (ii) principal and interest recovery of the granted financing; (iii) resources granted by multilateral agencies; and (iv) incomes earned from the issuance of fiduciary values.
    • Instruments: (i) provide funds and grant loans; (ii) partially credit or subsidize interest rate of granted loans; (iii) grant incentives; and (iv) finance the diffusion, investigation and development of activities related to the application of these technologies.
    • Exemption: The FODIS and the trustee will be exempted to pay national taxes for transactions related to the FODIS.
  6. Promotional Benefits
    • FODIS will established, for twelve (12) years, extendable for the same term, bonuses for the acquisition of the equipment as a promotional benefit.
    • The enforcement authority can establish a tax certificate for national taxes as a promotional benefit.
    • The enforcement authority will give priority for promotional benefits for national equipment.
    • A maximum cap for Tax Benefits of pesos two hundred million ($ 200,000,000) is expected for 2017 in order to be used as promotional benefits.
  7. FANSIGED
    • Finally, the Law established the “Promotion Regime for the National Manufacture of Systems, Equipment and Inputs related to Distributed Generation” (“FANSIFED” for its Spanish acronym) for a ten-year term, extendable for the same term.
    • The activities benefit from the Promotional Regimen are the investigation, design, investment in capital goods, production, certification and install services for distributed generation.
    • The incentives are: (i) tax certificates; (ii) income tax accelerated amortization; (iii) VAT anticipated reimbursement; (iv) access to finance with preferential rates; and (v) access to the Supplier Development Program.
    • Only micro, small and medium-sized enterprises can request promotional benefits.
    • A budget cap of pesos two hundred million ($ 200,000,000) to be assigned to promotional benefits for the current fiscal year is established.

At TRS&M, we are following these projects with great interest and are available to discuss any query regarding the above.