Industrial development for the energy

transition in latin america: Lessons

learned from wind energy for green

hydrogen in Argentina

Desarrollo industrial para la transición energética en

américa latina: lecciones aprendidas de la energía eólica al

hidrógeno verde en Argentina

1.- Carolina Pasciaroni, Departamento de Economía UNS,IIESS-CONICET,

carolina.pasciaroni@uns.edu.ar

2.- Regina Vidosa, Centro de Estudios Urbanos y Regionales- CONICET, reginavidosa@gmail.com

3.- Jésica Sarmiento, jesicaisarmiento@gmail.com

4.- María Eugenia Castelao Caruana, Fundación Bariloche- CONICET,

eugeniacastelao@conicet.gov.ar

5.- Mariana Zilio, Departamento de Economía UNS, IIESS-CONICET, mzilio@uns.edu.ar

6.- Carina Guzowski, Departamento de Economía UNS, IIESS-CONICET, cguzow@criba.edu.ar

Carolina Pasciaroni

, Regina Vidosa

, Jésica Sarmiento

, María Eugenia Castelao Caruana

Mariana Zilio

, Carina Guzowski

Recibido: 13/11/2024 y Aceptado: 21/1/2025

La transición energética se ha consolidado como una tendencia global, exigiendo una profunda

transformación de la matriz energética a través de la eliminación progresiva de los combustibles fósiles

y la incorporación de diversas tecnologías para la generación de energía a partir de fuentes renovables.

Este trabajo analiza los procesos de aprendizaje tecnológico e innovación observados durante

el surgimiento y la consolidación de la industria eólica en Argentina, con el objetivo de desarrollar

hipótesis sobre la interacción entre la demanda y el ciclo tecnológico en el impulso de la innovación

en tecnologías de energías renovables, como la industria del hidrógeno verde, en países periféricos. A

partir de una metodología de estudio de caso, nuestro análisis sugiere que las empresas basadas en la

explotación de recursos naturales podrían no ser tan cruciales en el proceso de aprendizaje tecnológico,

especialmente durante la fase inicial del ciclo. En cambio, los proveedores intensivos en conocimiento

desempeñan un papel más relevante en el proceso de innovación que rodea la transformación de los

recursos naturales vinculados a la energía. No obstante, persisten interrogantes sobre la especicidad

de los recursos naturales energéticos y su potencial para generar oportunidades para el desarrollo de

redes de conocimiento locales.

The energy transition has emerged as a global trend, requiring a profound transformation of the energy

matrix by gradually eliminating fossil fuels and incorporating diverse technologies for power generation

from renewable sources. This paper delves into the technological learning and innovation processes

observed during Argentina’s wind industry emergence and consolidation to develop hypotheses about

the interplay between demand and the technological cycle in driving innovation around renewable

energy technologies, for example the green hydrogen industry, in peripheral countries. Based on a

case study methodology, our analysis suggests that natural resource-based rms may not be as critical

in the technological learning process, particularly during the emergence phase of the cycle. Instead,

knowledge-intensive suppliers play a more signicant role in the innovation process surrounding the

transformation of energy-related natural resources. However, questions remain regarding the specicity

of energy-related natural resources and their potential to create opportunities for the emergence of local

knowledge networks.

PALABRAS CLAVE: Energía eólica, hidrógeno verde, ciclo tecnológico, innovación, desarrollo industrial

KEYWORDS: Wind energy, green hydrogen, Technological cycle, innovation, industrial development.

Resumen

Abstract

1. INTRODUCTION

For some decades now, the energy transition

has emerged as a global trend that demands

an active strategy from States to transform the

challenges of this process into opportunities for

industrial development in emerging countries.

This trend requires a profound transformation

of the energy matrix, which implies the gradual

elimination of fossil fuels (United Nations, 2023)

and the incorporation of diverse technologies for

energy generation from renewable sources. These

technologies are in dierent stages of development

and, even though their adoption and diusion

may enhance the comparative advantages of the

energy sector, their impact on the technological

dynamism of its associated industries is unclear.

For example, wind energy has a high penetration

rate in South American energy markets (IRENA,

2023a) and its diusion, within an appropriate

institutional and economic framework, has

facilitated the installation of factories for blade

production in Brazil and tower production in

Argentina. At the same time, green hydrogen is

in a phase of feedback between technological

development and demonstration on a global scale.

Still, countries in the region continue to outline

their institutional frameworks without achieving

signicant technological advances, except in Chile

where the country’s rst hydrogen fuel cell vehicle

was homologated (OLADE, 2023).

In the last decade, within the framework of

neo-Schumpeterian and Evolutionary theories,

various academic studies have suggested that

the processes of learning and innovation around

industries based on the exploitation of natural

resources, such as those dedicated to the

generation of renewable energy (RE), are relevant

for economic development. These works highlight

the role that natural resource-based industries

have in the technological dynamism of the network

of actors that supplies them with equipment,

services, and knowledge and their economic

and technological relevance in South American

economies. However, they also point out that

there are conditions that enable these processes,

which are expressed in the demand conguration,

the industrial organization, the technology cycle,

and the institutional context (Andersen, Marín, &

Simensen, 2018; Crespi, Katz, & Olivari, 2018; Katz

& Pietrobelli, 2018). This work focuses on how the

demand conguration and the technology cycle

of the wind energy industry, in general, may have

inuenced the learning and innovation processes

of this industry in Argentina over the past two

decades. By distilling lessons from this context,

we gain insights into the current opportunities

and challenges for the emerging green hydrogen

sector in leveraging economic development.

2. DEMAND AND TECHNOLOGICAL LIFE CYCLES: EVIDENCE

FROM WIND ENERGY FOR GREEN HYDROGEN

Over the past two decades, the renewable energy

industry has witnessed two signicant trends:

i) a scale expansion in response to countries’

eorts to achieve energy security and more

sustainable economic growth, and ii) increased

internationalization resulting from the export of

energy technologies (Kim & Kim, 2015). A prime

example of these trends is China’s entry into

the global renewable energy market through

manufacturing equipment for wind power and

solar photo voltaic energy (Gandenberger &

Strauch, 2018; Kim & Kim, 2015). The promotion

of national wind power demand and its role as a

catalyst for competitive technology development,

primarily in terms of price rather than quality,

explains China’s active participation in the global

energy market (Lin & Chen, 2019; Gandenberger

& Strauch, 2018).

However, the empirical evidence regarding

the impact of demand–pull policies on the

development of energy technologies remains

inconclusive (see review by Lin and Chen (2019)).

This ambiguity may be attributed to the varying

degrees of maturity reached by dierent energy

technologies. In their comparative study of wind

power and solar photovoltaic, Kim and Kim (2015)

found evidence supporting a positive bidirectional

relationship between domestic R&D investment

and technology export. Notably, these results were

more pronounced in wind power compared to

solar photovoltaic, with the latter being considered

a more mature technology.

These ndings about the role of demand

concerning the maturity of technologies have led

to the Technological Life Cycle (TLC) concept to

comprehend the long-term patterns of innovation

and diusion processes within the energy

matrix. According to the TLC model proposed

by Anderson and Tushman (1990), the cycle

begins with a disruptive discovery that opens

new opportunities and technological trajectories.

This is followed by a fermentation stage, where

technologies compete within a highly uncertain

environment. Then, the third stage sees the

emergence of a dominant technological design.

Finally, the fourth stage involves incremental

change, where the technology gradually evolves

until a new technological discontinuity disrupts the

trajectory and restarts the cycle. Utterback and

Abernathy (1975) present a stylized representation

of the TLC akin to an inverted U, which combines

considerations about the type of innovation

-product or process- that predominates at each

stage of the cycle. Davies (1997) later dierentiates

technological patterns based on whether they

pertain to mass-produced goods or complex

products and systems.

From the perspective of the TLC, wind power is in a

phase of incremental change (Huenteler, Schmidt,

Ossenbrink, & Homann, 2016; Kalthaus, 2020;

Madvar, Ahmadi, Shirmohammadi, & Aslani,

2019), suppliers of wind energy equipment have

enhanced the quality of their products (Huenteler

et al., 2016) and there has been a steady

decrease in wind energy prices. Drawing on the

contributions of Davies (1997), the complexity

of energy technologies, and thus the associated

pattern of technological evolution, is determined by

two key factors: i) the complexity of the product’s

architecture, and ii) the scale of the production

process. Huenteler et al. (2016) concluded that

wind power is characterized by its complexity and

by incremental changes that combine product and

process innovations, with the latter predominating.

It’s important to highlight that the trajectory of

wind power technology involves a diverse range

of contributors and knowledge sources. As per

the ndings of Kalthaus (2020) in Germany, non-

specialized and unrelated knowledge played a

signicant role during the fermentation phase

of wind power. This can be attributed to the

involvement of technicians and engineers who

aimed to enhance environmental conditions and

oer technical alternatives to traditional energy.

In subsequent phases, the amalgamation of

new, specialized knowledge, as well as related

knowledge gained prominence. This suggests an

impending discontinuity associated with oshore

wind power, marked by the participation of

shipping rms in technological development. The

presence of local industries engaged in turbine

manufacturing, competitive on a global scale, is a

positive factor for the national wind energy sector

expansion and knowledge generation in this eld

(Zhang, Tang, Su, & Huang, 2020). This underlines

the importance of a diverse knowledge base

and cross-industry collaboration in advancing

renewable energy technologies.

Ampah et al. (2023) demonstrate that water-based

technologies for producing green hydrogen are

experiencing varied stages of evolution: photolysis

is in an emerging phase, thermolysis is in a growth

stage, and meanwhile, electrolysis has reached

maturity. Over the past ve years, signicant

advancements have been made in areas such as

cell design, electrodes, electrolytes, electrolytics,

processes, and control methods. It’s worth noting

that while hydrogen generation through electrolyzers

is a technology utilized in industrial processes, it has

not yet been widely adopted for power generation

due to the need for cost reduction. Consequently,

the critical points in research and development in

this eld include the use of renewable energies

(wind and solar) as a source of electrolysis,

increasing eciency, and reducing consumption

and energy costs, among others. Dehghanimadvar,

Shirmohammadi, Sadeghzadeh, Aslani, and

Ghasempour (2020) apply the Gartner Hype Cycle

model to abroad range of renewable and non-

renewable technologies to explain their stage of

development. They arm these technologies are at

dierent phases, primarily concentrated between

the disillusionment stages (photo fermentation

and dark fermentation), the slope of enlightenment

phase (photo electrochemical, thermochemical

water decomposition, and PV electrolysis), and

the nal productivity stage (electrolysis, fossil fuel

reforming, and coal gasication). Interestingly, none

of these technologies are found in the rst two

stages of the Gartner Hype Cycle, which are the

innovation trigger and peak of inated expectations.

Technological development in lagging economies

exhibits unique characteristics derived from the

local industrial trajectory, the inuence of Foreign

Direct Investment, the role of Global Value Chains,

and restrictions arising from compliance with

international regulations and standards (Crespi et

al., 2018; Katz & Pietrobelli, 2018). A comparative

study between Brazil and China reveals the

dierential strategies pursued and their impact

on knowledge generation in the wind energy

eld. While both countries have capitalized on the

inux of foreign technology, China has oriented

its strategy towards learning and developing

national technology, resulting in patents and

national brand turbines. In contrast, Brazil still

relies on Foreign Direct Investment (Gandenberger

& Strauch, 2018). In Argentina, the lack of

coordination between energy policies and science

and technology policies, coupled with their lack of

continuity, has posed a limitation to technological

development in the eld of wind energy (Aggio,

Verre, & Gatto, 2018; Stubrin & Cretini, 2023).

This study adopts a case study approach to

analyze the technological learning trajectory of

the domestic wind turbine industry in Argentina.

The analysis centers on two domestic rms that

demonstrated the capacity to develop and, to a

certain extent, commercialized their wind turbine

designs. While this case study does not encompass

a comprehensive historical perspective, it delves

into the institutional trajectory, strategies, and

technological capabilities that these two key local

industry players built over the years. In addition, the

research explores the economic, technological,

and political landscapes that underpin the

emergence of a green hydrogen industry, both on

a global and national scale.

The wind energy industry emerged in the 1970s

in countries like Denmark, Germany, and the

United States. But it was in the late 1990s

when the technology design consolidated and

competition among rms began to be focused

on the internationalization of technology to

emerging countries (Gipe & Möllerström, 2023;

Verbong, Geels, & Raven, 2008). Until then,

vertical integration in wind turbine manufacturing

had predominated, resulting from the organic

expansion of the incumbent companies and its

concentration through mergers and acquisitions

(Jacobsson & Johnson, 2000). But around

mid-2000, the internationalization process

changed the business model giving way to the

emergence of suppliers –mostly not knowledge-

intensive– located in the same countries where

wind farms were installed, while bigger rms

continued to specialize in wind turbine design and

manufacturing. So, by the decade of 2000, wind

energy technology was mature, even though, as it

was mentioned previously, its innovative process

has remained focused on improving the product

throughout its life cycle, shifting from the core

sub-system to the broader range of subsystems

3. METHODOLOGY

4. WIND ENERGY TRAJECTORY

These industries were chosen due to their relevance

to the energy transition agenda in South American

countries and their distinct technological, market,

institutional, and organizational characteristics

up to the present day (Castelao Caruana et al.,

2023). The analysis is based on the information

collected from multiple secondary sources and

semi-structured interviews with representatives

from both industries.

and components that comprise wind energy

(Huenteler et al., 2016). During those years, the

demand for wind energy in the countries of the

Southern Cone was divergent, especially in Brazil

(Figure 1). Some countries, such as Argentina,

Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, managed to increase

their installed capacity, reaching values between

700-4,500 MW, while the rest of the countries

hover around 50-60 MW, on average. The rapid

increase of the wind energy installed capacity

in Brazil can be attributed to the execution of

national public programs specically designed for

RE, such as the PROINFA that in 2002 oered

feed-in tari schemes through 20-year contracts

for wind farms, biomass, and small hydroelectric

plants (Eirin, Messina, Contreras Lisperguer, &

Salgado, 2022).

In Argentina, the national government implemented

a program to promote electricity generation from

RE sources in the late ´90 that promoted the

installation of some wind farms with European

technology. However, the benets of this program

were diluted with the exit from the xed exchange

rate regime called convertibility that the country

went through in 2001. It was not until 2009 that

the national government again promoted the

installation of this type of technology with the

GENREN program under the orbit of ENARSA.

This program tendered contracts for the electricity

supply from RE sources, incorporating incentives

for wind farms to develop with equipment and

components produced locally. However, it had a

partial impact. Even though it tendered contracts

for 500 MW and obtained oers for 1,000 MW

(approving 754 MW), by the beginning of 2018

1.- Energía Argentina S.A. (ENARSA) is a company owned by the national government, established in 2004 to exploit and commercialize

hydrocarbons, natural gas, and electric energy.

only two wind farms with 130 MW had been

completed, and 10 wind farms with 445 MW

had started and interrupted their works. This

was due to an unstable macroeconomic context

that strongly conditioned access to international

nancing. In this context, two national wind

turbine manufacturers emerged –IMPSA and NRG

Patagonia – which drove the development of local

suppliers.

Some years later, within the framework of national

Law 27.191/2016, the RenovAr program and

the Renewable Energy Term Market (MATER)

once again promoted the growth of wind energy

demand in the country. The former was a national

tender program for electricity supply contracts

from ER sources that provided tax benets

associated with the incorporation of national

components established by Law 27.191. The

latter, also regulated by this law, is a market

for electricity supply contracts from renewable

sources between large users (with consumption

greater than or equal to 300 KW) and generators

of this type of energy participating in the Wholesale

Electric Market (MEM). However, this institutional

Figure 1. Electricity Installed Capacity from Wind Energy (MW) by Country (2007-2023)

Source: own elaboration with data from IRENA (2024)

framework did not prioritize the development

of domestic technology and associated local

linkages (Aggio et al., 2018; Cappa, 2023), but

the growth of the renewable energy sector in a

complex macroeconomic context marked by

energy scarcity.

2.- Founded in Argentina in 1907, IMPSA achieved a signicant international presence, operating in 40 countries and maintaining a workforce

of 3,500 employees. Subsequently, by 2021, this gure had decreased to 720, and the company is currently undergoing a process of

corporate restructuring.

3.- Within the framework of this program, two 1.5 MW wind turbines were installed in El Tordillo wind farm, one designed, built, and installed

by NRG Patagonia and the other by IMPSA Wind. Both were put into operation in 2009/10, but the park began operating in the MEM in 2013.

Its owner was Vientos de la Patagonia I, comprised of ENARSA and the Province of Chubut. IMPSA Wind also signed two contracts with

Arauco 1 Wind Farm, owned by the state energy company La Rioja SAPEM (75%) and ENARSA, to manufacture, operate, and maintain 15

IWP-83 wind turbines of 2.1 MW and 11 wind turbines of 2 MW each. This wind farm was inaugurated in 2011. In addition, in 2015 IMPSA

Wind installed 4 wind turbines of 2 MW each in El Jume wind farm, owned by the public company Energía Santiago del Estero S.A. (IMPSA,

2024; (Aggio et al., 2018).

At the beginning of the 2000, IMPSA (Industrias

Metalúrgicas Pescarmona S.A) was a

transnational company with Argentine capital

dedicated to developing complex hydroelectric

energy projects and designing and manufacturing

capital goods for these and other industries. Its

advanced technological capabilities and the

expansion of its production capacities beyond

Latin America enabled IMPSA to access global

and distant markets such as Asia, Europe

and North America (Papa & Hobday, 2015). In

2003/4, with a strong commitment to innovation,

IMPSA began a technological learning process

for the design and manufacture of wind turbines

based on its knowledge and experience in uid

mechanics and synchronous generators from

the design and manufacture of hydroelectric

power plants, handling of high structures and

frequency conversion derived from the design and

manufacture of port cranes and control systems.

By 2005, when the average power of wind

turbines globally was around 1.0–1.3 MW and the

most consolidated European companies began to

internationalize, IMPSA developed a 1.0 MW wind

turbine that was tested in a wind farm in Argentine

Patagonia. Although this machine did not reach a

year of life due to problems in the control system,

this milestone inaugurated the IMPSA Wind

business unit, marking the rm’s foray into the

wind energy industry. However, Brazil’s growing

economy and dynamism of the wind market by

mid-2000, compared to Argentina’s economic

decline and wind market halt, convinced IMPSA

to shift their main wind operations and assets

towards Brazil (Papa & Hobday, 2015). Given that

the market was taking o in this country and that

mature technologies already existed internationally,

the company chose to accelerate the technological

4.1. IMPSA

learning process by acquiring the license from

Vensys, a German rm to manufacture a direct

transmission wind turbine of 1.5 MW. By 2007/8

the company inaugurated its subsidiary named

Wind Power and a production facility to produce

wind turbines and generators in this country.

Motivated by local regulations that established

60% national content, IMPSA promoted the

development of local and regional suppliers that

allowed the diversication of the supply chain,

and the growth of the industry associated with

the sector in Brazil. By 2014, IMPSA was the

third producer of wind energy in this country. It

was building wind farms for 480 MW and it had

a contract for the manufacture, installation, and

operation and maintenance of 287 generators for

574 MW for 2018. In Argentina, IMPSA developed

the rst wind turbine with its own technology in

Latin America, called UNIPOWER® IWP-70 of

1.5 MW, which obtained international certication

in 2010. This wind turbine and the subsequent

ones -IWP83 and IWP-100- were manufactured

in the IMPSA Argentina facilities, reaching a local

content of 72 % in the IWP100 model of 2 MW.

In parallel, IMPSA obtained contracts with public

companies for the provision of wind turbines within

the framework of the GENREN program between

2009 and 2011

As in Brazil, the development of this equipment

encouraged the creation of a solid network of

local suppliers for the sector that included the

production of towers and components of the

turbines, the repair of wind blades and nacelles,

the construction and protection of foundations and

towers, and the manufacture of electronic controls.

However, this demand was unstable over time

and uncoordinated from industrial and scientic

policy (Aggio et al., 2018). Despite the various

improved models that the company developed to

stay at the fore front of the international industry,

by 2015 the power of its IWP-100 model was

lagging the oer of large international companies,

which, along with other barriers, made it dicult to

enter the RENOVAR (Table 1). By the end of 2016,

40% of the installed power came from turbines

manufactured by companies from Denmark and

23% from France, only 27% from Argentina (Aggio

et al., 2018).

NRG Patagonia was created in 2006 in Argentina

by domestic companies in the oil and gas industry

that detected the window of opportunity posed

by the absence of wind turbines adapted to

the winds of Patagonia at an international level.

The rst Wind Farms installed in this region in

the 90s showed the lack of specic information

about the regional wind resources (dierent from

the predominant in Europe) and of technology

adapted to its characteristics. The company

then acquired the design of a Class II turbine

in Germany with software from Denmark and

hired German engineering to adapt it to the

requirements of the winds of Patagonia (Class I),

seeking that most of the parts were manufactured

in Argentina. In this way, it developed internal

productive capacities to manufacture, assemble,

mount, and operate Class I turbines of 1.5 MW,

while the rest of the components were acquired

from suppliers, many of them local. One bought

the license for the electric generator abroad to be

able to manufacture it in the country.

As happened with IMPSA, this technology

was initially installed in El Tordillo Wind Farm in

2019/10 owned by a public company to integrate

a park of 3 MW, located in Comodoro Rivadavia,

Province of Chubut. However, the initiative was

discontinued and given the fall in projected

demand and the diculty in accessing local public

and private nancing, the scaling of the prototype

Due to various nancial events in Argentina, Brazil,

and Venezuela, IMPSA had to restructure its

capital at the beginning of 2018. Currently, IMPSA

is a company dedicated to the EPC of wind farms

and SFV, including the production of hydrogen, the

repair of large wind equipment, and the provision

of operation and maintenance services, including

the application of AI for preventive maintenance.

4.2. NRG Patagonia

wind turbine for Class I winds was discontinued.

However, by 2014, the company embarked on

the development of a Class II team in consortium

with the National University of Patagonia San Juan

Bosco and with economic support from Ministry of

Science and Technology for about 6 million USD.

The development involved the internal capacities

of the rm’s engineers and external specialists

from Europe. Although initially this turbine was

thought of as a suitable technology to generate

energy with the wind resource available in other

parts of the country, given the increase in the

power of foreign turbines, it became a suitable

team (from 1 to 2 MW) for low-scale users –

electric cooperatives, municipalities and/or small

and medium-sized enterprises- located in regions

with not so extreme winds

. This segment is a

niche with potential from the creation of MATER

and Law 27.424/2017 of distributed generation

of low interest for large multinational companies.

Currently, these wind turbines have around 50%

of national components from 12 local companies.

In addition to this strategy, the company created

ENAT in 2016, a spin-o that capitalizes on

the techno-productive knowledge and market

acquired in the wind market by the rm to provide

knowledge services such as detection of sites

with energy resources of interest, design of wind

farms or pre-feasibility analysis of connection to

the electrical system.

4.- In 2021, NRG Patagonia installed a 1.5 MW Wind turbine for self-consumption by the Castelli Cooperative in Buenos Aires Province.

Green hydrogen has aroused great expectations

at the global level due to its potential as an energy

vector for renewable energy sources, like wind

and solar photovoltaic energy. Its development

could complement other sources of energy and

promote the decarbonization of energy-intensive

industries (steel, chemicals, cement, and transport)

as well as other sectors that use hydrogen in

their production processes (petrochemicals,

food, and electronics) (Zabaloy, Guzowski, &

Didriksen, 2021). In addition, hydrogen and its

derivatives have a comparative advantage in

specic applications required by sectors that

need to stabilize the networks supplied by a large

proportion of intermittent sources, such as solar

photo voltaic and wind power (IRENA, 2023b).

Green hydrogen is produced by the electrolysis of

water, which requires both the availability of fresh

water and a renewable energy source. In Latin

America, there is a convergence of both natural

resources in their potential to produce it, as auctions

in Chile, Mexico, and Brazil oer the lowest prices

for wind power and solar photovoltaic energy in

the world, and water scarcity is not a constraint for

most countries in the region. So, the development

The analysis of this sector shows several issues.

First, the specicity of the NR -winds with greater

load capacity and turbulence in the Patagonia

region– represented an opportunity that only

some companies with a trajectory in the energy

sector could identify at the beginning of the ´2000

given the low level of specialized knowledge that

existed in the country about this industry. Even

so, the specicity of this NR did not represent a

barrier to entry for foreign companies because it

is an NR with similar characteristics in other parts

of the world and also in those years the global

wind industry was already mature and relatively

concentrated – although more dispersed than

at present - and under a dynamic of innovation

focused on the continuous improvement of the

subsystems and components that make up

wind energy, which quickly closed this window of

opportunity. However, in less than a decade, the

national companies analyzed managed to develop

the necessary technological capacities to take

advantage of this opportunity through a learning

process based on internal mechanisms (existing

capacities) and external (license purchase) in the

case of IMPSA and merely external in the case

of NRG (hiring of engineering for the adaptation

of an existing design to local requirements), at

least in the rst stage. This learning process was

supported by a timid internal demand, essentially

driven by public companies, but also, in the case

of IMPSA, by an external, regional, and dynamic

demand.

5. GREEN HYDROGEN, AN EMERGING INDUSTRY

of green hydrogen in Latin America could be an

advantage for potential consumers further away

from the region, such as China, the European

Union or the USA, as they could compensate for

the distance with cheap renewable energy and

less risk of geopolitical conict than those from

closer, but more politically unstable regions.

The challenge for Latin American countries is to

dene how to develop the energy transition for

which they have the natural resources but not

the capital or the technology, considering that

hydrogen production is complex and requires

long-term investments that allow innovation in

the construction of production plants, storage,

and transportation, as well as in the electrolysers

production.

Electrolysis seems to be a highly modular

technology with a steep learning curve. Electrolysis

could be today what solar photovoltaic energy

was 0 to 15 years ago, on the verge of moving

from niche to mainstream technology. While this

nascent sector is still developing, electrolysers

made in China are 75% cheaper than those

made in the West, according to Bloomberg New

Energy Finance. This is a gap that Latin American

countries should close if they are to develop a

competitive hydrogen ecosystem, as they have

an important endowment of natural resources for

low-emission hydrogen production but are still

far from the technological frontier of electrolyser

production.

In Argentina, the search for insertion in this

ecosystem led to the emergence of some

projects promoted by public and private

companies (Hychico, Y-TEC), and others by

foreign companies and organizations, with varying

degrees of progress. Hychico has a pilot plant in

Chubut that produces 120 m3 of green hydrogen

per day using wind energy, currently destined for

the domestic market. The project, launched in

2008, is a spin-o of the CAPEX Company with

a track record in the conventional energy sector

and is an example of synergy between fossil

and renewable energies: two wind farms and

two electrolysers at the foot of a conventional

eld. At the same time, Y-TEC –a technology

company of YPF and Consejo Nacional de

Investigaciones Cientíticas y Técnicas- launched

a consortium for the development of the hydrogen

economy in Argentina in 2020, called H2Ar, to

create a collaborative workspace between local

companies interested in integrating the blue or

green hydrogen value chain (YPF, 2022). On the

other hand, foreign entities -such as the Australian

company Fortescue Future, the Fraunhofer

Institute of Germany, and the MMEX Resources

Corporation of the U.S.A.- have evidenced a deep

interest in promoting green hydrogen production

in Argentina. These external actors have focused

on studying the available natural resources and

their environment – wind and water sources and

topography - to assess the technical and economic

feasibility of installing green hydrogen production

plants powered by wind energy, proposing the

emergence of hydrogen hubs in the provinces of

Buenos Aires, Río Negro, and Tierra del Fuego.

Despite all these actions, there are few technical

and environmental studies to assess the impact

of green hydrogen production and poor standards

to regulate the activity. In recent years, the

international context has promoted the interest

of the State, both at the national and provincial

levels, but there is still no broad consensus on

the benets this sector could bring to the country,

on the role of government in promoting it, and on

the role of hydrogen as part of industrial policy

(Castelao Caruana, et al. 2023).

The rst Hydrogen Promotion Act (Law 26.123)

was introduced in 2006 to promote research

and development of technologies to produce

hydrogen from renewable and non-renewable

sources (Guzowski, Zabaloy, & Ibañez Martín,

2022), expiring at the end of 2021 due to a lack

of regulation. In 2023, the national government

submitted a new draft law on the promotion of

hydrogen production, which was strongly criticized

because of the 35% national content requirement

for each project (including electrolysers and

power generation equipment), the duration of the

promotion scheme, the requirement to contribute

a percentage of the investment to a future specic

allocation fund, and the multiplicity of agencies

involved in hydrogen regulation. In September

2023, the National Strategy for the Development

of the Hydrogen Economy presented the basis

for the promotion of low-emission hydrogen, but

the change of government in December put all

hydrogen-related regulations (including the draft

law) on hold and does not seem to have the will

to move forward, at least in the short and medium

term.

This work delves into the technological learning

and innovation process observed during the

emergence and consolidation of the wind industry

in Argentina to develop some hypotheses about

the role the inter play between demand and the

technological cycle may have in driving innovation

around renewable energy technologies, especially

green hydrogen, in peripheral countries.

This paper focuses on the trajectory of Argentina’s

wind industry, analyzing the technological learning

processes undertaken by IMPSA and NRG

Patagonia over the last two decades. Initially, these

companies designed and manufactured wind

turbines tailored to the unique wind conditions of

the Patagonian region. We juxtapose this evolution

with global wind industry trends and internal

and external demand policies that inuenced

these learning processes. Our ndings propose

hypotheses applicable to understanding learning

dynamics in other emerging energy industries.

The results show that despite mature technology,

there remain opportunities for technological

innovation when local or regional market diusion

Table 1. Non-exhaustive mile stones on the evolution of the wind industry at dierent scales

of analysis

Source: own elaboration from secondary sources

6. CONCLUSIONS

is limited. While the accumulated technological

capabilities and the learning process play a pivotal

role in the initial stages, internal demand becomes

central during technology’s take-o phase,

especially for in-house designs. Notably, external

demand from countries where the technology is

not yet widespread can also drive technological

development. Brazil’s role in IMPSA’s consolidation

as a wind turbine supplier exemplies this

phenomenon.

Contrary to prevailing literature, our study

suggests that natural resource-based rms may

not be as critical in the technological learning

process, particularly during the emergence

phase of the cycle. Instead, knowledge-intensive

suppliers —those involved in designing, adapting,

and manufacturing technology—play a more

signicant role in the innovation process around

the transformation of energy-related natural

resources.

Doubts arise regarding the level of specicity

of energy-related natural resources and their

potential to open windows of opportunity for

the emergence of local knowledge networks.

Regardless of whether these opportunities exist,

or rms seek to capitalize on those resulting from

foreign technology diusion, they must thoroughly

understand the sector and develop the necessary

technological and commercial capabilities to

achieve technological innovation.

These observations are important for the

current learning process around green hydrogen

production, as there is already an international

industry advancing towards its consolidation

and the electrolysis technology is maturing. In

Argentina, a few local companies with frontier

technological capabilities are studying the process

of green hydrogen production to become key

players in the domestic industry, not so much in

the production of electrolysers as in the provision

of equipment or services to upgrade production

processes. Given the lack of a supportive

institutional framework and the neoliberal political

context in the country, questions arise regarding

the potential opportunities the external demand of

green hydrogen and its by-products-this time from

developed countries- may bring for technological

learning and innovation in this nascent sector.

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