Argentina Receives More than US$700 Million in Bids to Privatize COMAHUE Hydroelectric System

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On November 28, the Ministry of Energy of Argentina opened the public bidding process for the sale of 100% of the shares of the public companies Alicurá Hidroeléctrica Argentina S.A., El Chocón Hidroeléctrica Argentina S.A., Cerros Colorados Hidroeléctrica Argentina S.A. and Piedra del Águila Hidroeléctrica Argentina S.A, initiated in August 2024. Companies will have a 30-year concession to exploit the five hydroelectric plants that make up the COAMAHUE complex on the Limay and Neuquén rivers in the provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro.

The plants in question are: Alicurá, with 1 gigawatt (GW) of power; El Chocón and Arroyito (1.42 GW); Cerros Colorados and Planicie Banderita (472 megawatts), and Piedra del Águila (1.44 GW).

As a result of the bidding process, the Argentine government received bids totaling US$706 million (well above the US$500 million expected) and three of the four companies at stake were awarded. Argentina's Grupo MSU, through its subsidiary MSU Green Energy (BML), won the El Chocón-Arroyito and Planicie Banderita concessions (previously managed by Italy's Enel and Argentina's Aconcagua Energía, respectively) by submitting a total offer of US$235.7 million.

The Alicurá plant, on the other hand, now is in the hands of Argentina's Edison Energía (with an offer of US$162 million), thus giving an exit to AES. Central Puerto managed to maintain the Piedra del Águila concession with an offer of US$245 million. Regarding Cerros Colorados, although BML submitted the largest initial offer of US$41.7 million, Edison Inversiones won with a new offer of US$64.2 million.

The plants came into operation between the early 1970s and the mid-1980s, except for Piedra del Águila, which entered commercial operation in 1992. More than 30 years old, the facilities require major modernization and fine-tuning works. MSU Green Energy has already announced investments in the coming years of US$230 million.

During the 1990s, then-president Carlos Menem granted the plants in concession for 30 years; the concessions expired in August 2023 but were extended until December 31 of this year.

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