Latin America expects a significant increase in regional electricity integration in 2025, with countries from the Andean region starting the approval process to integrate their grids.
The four countries that form the Andean Community (CAN) — Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru — began working on integration seven years ago, finalizing agreements last May. The member countries have 24 months to incorporate commercial and regulatory rules to integrate grids into national legislation.
CAN secretary general Gonzalo Gutierrez said he was confident that the integrated system would be ready quickly. The next big piece — and one Gutierrez said is central to the region — is getting Chile to join the integrated system.
"The incorporation of Chile into the Andean integrated system is crucial," Gutierrez said at the annual meeting of the Latin American Energy Organization (Olade) in Asuncion, Paraguay.
The CAN integration is the third in the region after Central America, which includes six countries, and the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur) that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Bolivia joined earlier this year but is not fully integrated into Mercosur systems.
Chile, if it were to join the Andean system, could serve as a link to Mercosur in the south. The Andean system, once operating, could connect to the Central America system through a Colombia-Panama link.
Authorities say that if an integrated system were in place already, it would have helped Ecuador avoid electricity rationing this year.
Andres Rebolledo, Olade executive secretary, said the region needs to focus on integration, infrastructure and diversification of grids for the energy transition and climate change.
"Ecuador is facing supply problems, but this year there have been six countries with some level of rationing. The interconnection and diversification of grids are the first solution," he said.
To the south, Uruguay's deputy industry minister Walter Verri said regional energy integration helped his country avoid rationing during the 2022-2023 drought.
"We had a drought that required us to import electricity [from Brazil]. Integration was essential," he said.
Verri said that while the Mercosur countries were integrated, lack of a regional vision hurts Latin America. "Latin America has excess power and we are under-utilizing our resources. We need to install infrastructure, but it is costly," he said.
Verri and Paraguay's deputy mining and energy minister, Mauricio Bejarano, also focused on Chile, saying that Mercosur needs to build power infrastructure that links it with Chile.
