Latin America mobilizes US$18bn to unblock its power grid

News • More than 90 transmission works worth US$18.17bn for 2026-2030. The regional pipeline combines high-voltage lines, substations and asset optimization initiatives, according to the BNamericas Forecast tool. • Private capital is coming in through routes that did not exist before. In Argentina, AMBA I, a roughly US$800mn project to reinforce the grid in greater Buenos Aires, will be developed under a public works concession with private capital, an IDB guarantee currently being structured and incentives from the RIGI regime. It is the first of 16 developments in the national expansion plan, whose total cost tops US$6.6bn. • Mexico is structuring financing in the capital markets. Of the 58 projects slated for 2026-2027, 14 will be public works with private capital and the other 44 will be developed through Fibra E. The investment vehicle issued US$725mn in bonds in September 2025 and in August 2026 sought authorization for a new issue of around US$1bn. • Upgrades free up capacity faster and more cheaply than a new line. Ítalo Freitas, executive vice president of trading and energy solutions at AXIA Energia, said optimization technologies can release additional volume at a fraction of the cost of building. In Chile, ACCIONA Energía has started up an AI-based digitalization project that will raise the required transmission flow by 60% in one area of the national grid. • For investors, capital is no longer the constraint. Some 66% of the initiatives in the pipeline will only start operating in 2028-2029, while the IDB estimates the region will need between US$6bn and US$8bn a year in power transport by 2030. Then there is supply: Axia Energia and ISA Energia warn that transformers and reactors carry delivery times of close to 30 months. Read the full SPECIAL REPORT to see how the power grid expansion is being financed in Latin America and what stands between an awarded project and the capacity the system requires.