BUENOS AIRES – Argentine President Mauricio Macri came out on Tuesday in favor of developing renewable energy sources so that by the end of 2018 they will provide 8 percent of the country’s electricity, more than four times their current contribution.

The president commented on the matter during the tour he made on Tuesday morning of the work to expand the Rawson Wind Park in southern Chubut province, Macri’s first official act of 2018.

Along those lines, he announced that the bidding plan for Renovar energy projects closed out 2017 with 147 projects under way in 18 provinces, a “strategic” figure in keeping with Macri’s aim to have 20 percent of Argentina’s electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020.

With the launching of the plan in May 2016, it was estimated that investment of some $4 billion in the overall effort would create 20,000 jobs.

At that time, it was forecast that renewable energy sources would provide 8 percent of the country’s electricity by the end of 2017, but Macri later pushed that goal back by a year.

“All Argentines are participating together in this, which is a challenge for the whole world: reducing the level of pollution and guaranteeing a planet for our children and our grandchildren,” he said during his speech at the site.

The work to expand the Rawson wind center includes incorporating 12 wind turbines, whereby the parks’ production can be increased to 410,000 megawatts per hour, enough to supply 137,000 homes. The expansion will require an investment of almost $40 million by the Genneia company.

This project, Macri said, comes along with others around the country including the construction in northern Jujuy province of Latin America’s “largest” solar park, where more than a million solar panels will be installed to capture the sun’s energy for human use.