Argentina’s Secretariat of Energy is moving forward with the tender documents for the Buenos Aires Transmission Project, the first large-scale expansion of the national grid to be executed under a new private-sector concession scheme without government financing.
“We expect to launch the tender during the first four months of next year,” said Argentina’s Secretary of Energy, María Tettamanti, in an interview with Strategic Energy during an event hosted by the Chamber of Renewable Energy Generators and Supply Chain (CEA).
The project is part of an ambitious investment plan to modernise the country’s electricity infrastructure. It will add more than 500 kilometres of high-voltage transmission lines to strengthen supply to the Greater Buenos Aires area, which accounts for roughly 40% of national electricity demand.
Tettamanti noted that the government has not yet estimated the total investment cost. However, she emphasised that the entire project will be financed by the private sector, following the new concession model.
Under this framework, private developers are responsible for investment, construction, operation and maintenance, with no public funds allocated. The economic return is designed to come through the tariff system.
The winning bidder will recover its investment only once the project is completed and operational, receiving a regulated revenue stream from users of the Wholesale Electricity Market (MEM) who benefit from the upgraded infrastructure.
Once the operation and maintenance period ends, the concessionaire will transfer the assets to the national government at zero residual value, after which the facilities may be reassigned to the corresponding transmission operator.
“We are working with support from the Inter-American Development Bank to ensure a successful process. The IDB is particularly involved in designing guarantees and key tender requirements, to make the project attractive and bankable for private investors,” Tettamanti explained. She stressed that creating a predictable investment environment is a top priority.
International financial institutions may participate by backstopping guarantees or identifying which instruments are necessary, leveraging their experience in large-scale energy infrastructure.
“All the necessary instruments are being developed so that the private sector considers the tender reliable,” she added.
Strategic projects underway
The launch of this first tender under the new framework marks a turning point for Argentina’s transmission sector, which has historically relied on public or multilateral funding for grid expansion.
With the Buenos Aires project as its flagship initiative, the government aims to usher in a new stage of grid modernisation, led by private actors and focused on improving system reliability and enabling greater integration of renewable energy.
The project is one of three transmission initiatives selected by the Energy Secretariat in mid-2025 for private-sector concession tenders. The other two are:
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500 kV Río Diamante – Charlone – O’Higgins line: Will expand evacuation capacity for renewable energy from the Cuyo region and part of the COMAHUE generation zone.
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500 kV Puerto Madryn – Choele Choel – Bahía Blanca line: Will enhance the integration of Patagonia into the national transmission backbone.
These projects form part of a broader program of 16 priority transmission works, totalling more than 5,600 km of 132 kV and 500 kV lines, designed to relieve bottlenecks, prevent outages and reinforce the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI).
