Argentina's Energy Secretariat launched a mega-plan of 16 priority projects to expand the national electricity transmission system at 132 and 500 kV, aimed at alleviating bottlenecks and preventing outages in the Argentine Interconnected System (SADI). The projects encompass 5,610 kilometers of new high-voltage lines , and the government estimates that the necessary investments will exceed US$6 billion. The prioritization of the transmission expansion was defined within the framework of the national energy sector emergency declared in December 2023, and forms part of the Contingency Plan for critical months 2024-2026 , published through Resolution SE No. 294 in October 2024. As Energía Estratégica anticipated ( see note ), the transmission projects in question will be financed and executed by the private sector, at no cost to the State, through a public works concession mechanism and will be funded through tariff payments by users of the Wholesale Electricity Market (MEM) who benefit from this new infrastructure. "In other words, the winning bidder will only be able to recover the investment once the project is completed and operational."
"The tariff will only be applied to users who benefit from these works," clarified sources close to the Energy Secretariat. Once the contractual period for the operation and maintenance of the expansion works has ended, the concessionaire must transfer the constructed facilities to the National State at zero value, and their operation and maintenance may be assigned by the Grantor to the Transmission System Operator, of whose system the expansion in question is an integral part. What happens next? "After the resolution is published, national and international tenders will begin for each of the projects."
The first will be AMBA I, since that area accounts for 40% of the demand,” government sources told this news outlet. Some of the planned projects were already included in the network expansion and upgrade plan approved during Alberto Fernández 's administration in mid-2023. These include the AMBA I project, a priority project spanning over 500 kilometers that was to be financed by China but remained stalled for several years; as well as the nearly 487-kilometer Río Diamante-Charlone O'Higgins electrical interconnection between Buenos Aires and Mendoza. It's worth noting that the AMBA I project is a priority project spanning over 500 kilometers that was to be financed by China but remained stalled for several years; and the nearly 487-kilometer Río Diamante-Charlone O'Higgins electrical interconnection between Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Below is the list of projects requiring urgent and priority execution:
- AMBA I
- AMBA II + STATCOM Rodríguez (Buenos Aires)
- 500 kV Vivoratá - Plomer line (Buenos Aires)
- 500 kV Plomer O'Higgins Line (Buenos Aires)
- 500 kV line Puerto Madryn Choele Choel (Neuquén) Bahía Blanca (Buenos Aires)
- ET Comodoro Rivadavia Oeste 500/132 kV 450 MVA (Chubut)
- EAST Alternative 500 kV Line Santa Cruz River Puerto Madryn
- Western Alternative 500 kV Line CH Kirchner Futaleufú Piedra del Águila (Santa Cruz, Chubut and Río Negro)
- 500 kV Line Río Diamante (Mendoza) Charlone - O'Higgins (Buenos Aires)
- 500 kV Line Rodeo Chaparro La Rioja Sur
- 500 kV Line Malvinas San Francisco (Córdoba) Santo Tomé (Corrientes)
- ET El Espinillo 500/132 kV (Formosa)
- 500 kV Lavalle Chumbicha line (Catamarca)
- 500 kV line Chaparro Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca) Punta Cobos (Salta)
- 500 kV International Interconnection Line Yaguaca (Bolivia) Salvador Mazza (Salta) San Juancito (Jujuy)
- 500 kV International Interconnection Line Villa Hayes (Paraguay) Formosa
- 500 kV Interconnection Line Santa Cruz - Tierra del Fuego