Argentina approves RIGI adhesion for GEAR I's USD 275.5M Parque Eólico Olavarría wind project

Mechanism

GEAR I SA — a joint vehicle of energy developer PCR and steelmaker ArcelorMittal Acindar, which already co-operate the San Luis Norte renewable park — sought RIGI adhesion through its dedicated project branch GEAR I SDE for a 180 MW, 30-turbine wind farm in Olavarría, Buenos Aires province, plus associated 132kV transmission infrastructure linking to TRANSBA's Olavarría substation. RIGI adhesion (see 2024-07-08-argentina-rigi-large-investment-incentive-regime) grants the project vehicle Law 27.742's 30-year tax/customs/FX stability package: a 25% corporate tax rate (vs. 35% standard), accelerated depreciation, and customs-duty exemption on imported capital goods under Article 190 for qualifying equipment identified by Argentina's VUCE single-window system. GEAR I SDE explicitly declined the Article 198 free-disposal FX benefit for export proceeds, since the plant is not designed to export power — its declared purpose is to supply ArcelorMittal Acindar's domestic steel plants, an import-substitution rather than export play.

The compliance clock (40% of the computable-asset minimum within two years, 100% by 30 November 2027) now runs from the 25 July 2025 accession date recorded in the resolution.

Downstream implications

• Captive industrial power, not merchant generation. Unlike most RIGI

energy approvals aimed at export or grid merchant sales, this project is explicitly captive — sized and structured to power a single industrial offtaker's (ArcelorMittal Acindar) domestic steel operations. It is a data point on RIGI being used for industrial energy-cost derisking by materials producers, not just upstream resource extraction.

• Precedent for co-located steel/renewables vehicles. PCR and

ArcelorMittal Acindar's existing San Luis Norte partnership suggests this is a repeatable template — steelmakers using RIGI-backed captive renewables to lock in long-term industrial power costs and avoid national grid price/FX exposure.

• Small relative to RIGI's mining pipeline. At USD 275.5M, this is a

fraction of the multi-billion-dollar mining approvals (Los Azules, Rincón) the register already tracks — illustrative of RIGI's broader use across non-extractive sectors (energy, steel) rather than evidence of a shift in scale.

Open questions

• Does GEAR I SDE hit the 40%-in-two-years investment milestone, or does

financing slip the schedule as with some other RIGI vehicles?

• Will other Argentine steel/heavy-industry producers replicate the

captive-renewables RIGI structure to hedge industrial power costs?