South America's electricity grids

Four South American grids are covered here - Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Colombia - each with real, sourced background on how its grid works, but no live figures yet: none of the four has a data pipeline built for it on this site (see why below). For how these grids connect to each other and to the rest of the Americas, see the Interconnections page.

No live figures on this page - background and sources only, see below

Brazil

Brazil runs one of the largest interconnected grids in the world by area - the Sistema Interligado Nacional (SIN), covering over 98% of the country's electricity supply - and one of the cleanest by generation mix, thanks to a huge hydroelectric fleet built up over the 20th century.

The SIN is coordinated by the Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico (ONS), which balances output from a hydro fleet so large it can smooth out seasonal rainfall variation across river basins thousands of kilometres apart, complemented by a fast-growing wind and solar sector (especially in the north-east) and a smaller thermal (gas, coal, biomass) fleet used mainly during dry spells when reservoir levels run low. The SIN also includes the Itaipu Dam on the Brazil-Paraguay border - one of the largest hydroelectric plants ever built, and jointly operated by both countries - part of why Brazil's grid is closely linked with several of its South American neighbours (see the Americas interconnections page).

  • Hydropower share of generationAbout half - 52% in 2025 - from one of the largest hydro fleets in the world
  • Itaipu Dam14GW installed capacity, jointly operated with Paraguay - one of the largest hydroelectric plants ever built
  • Wind + solar record34% of generation in August 2025 - the first month above a third, as hydro fell to 48%
  • Sistema Interligado Nacional (SIN) coverageAbout 99% of Brazil's electricity consumption, coordinated by ONS

Sources: Ember (Brazil), Ember (August 2025), EPE (isolated systems), ONS. Last checked: 2 October 2026.

Where to see Brazil's live grid data: ONS Dados Abertos (Open Data Portal) - Brazil's official open data portal for the national grid - generation, load and hydrological data.

Argentina

Argentina's grid, the Sistema Argentino de Interconexión (SADI), is coordinated by CAMMESA, the company that runs the country's wholesale electricity market on behalf of generators, transmission companies and large users jointly.

CAMMESA (Compañía Administradora del Mercado Mayorista Eléctrico) both operates Argentina's grid and runs its wholesale electricity market. The mix is dominated by thermal generation (mostly natural gas, reflecting Argentina's large domestic gas reserves) alongside significant hydro capacity and a growing wind sector, particularly in Patagonia, plus two nuclear plants. Argentina's grid is interconnected with several neighbours, including large hydroelectric ties with Paraguay (via the jointly-operated Yacyretá dam) and Brazil, and smaller links with Uruguay and Chile - see the Americas interconnections page.

  • Installed capacity mix~58% thermal, ~38% renewables (of which ~22% is large hydro), ~4% nuclear
  • Nuclear generationThree reactors on two sites (Atucha I and II, Embalse) - Atucha I has been offline since September 2024 for a life-extension project
  • Yacyretá Dam~3.2GW installed capacity (20 units), jointly operated with Paraguay - about 20TWh a year on average
  • Thermal generation fuelDominated by natural gas, reflecting Argentina's large domestic gas reserves

Sources: CNEA (capacity mix, July 2025), World Nuclear News (Atucha I), Entidad Binacional Yacyretá, CAMMESA. Last checked: 2 October 2026.

Where to see Argentina's live grid data: CAMMESA - Argentina's wholesale electricity market operator - real-time generation, demand and mix data, plus open datasets via datos.energia.gob.ar and datos.gob.ar.

Chile

Chile's grid, the Sistema Eléctrico Nacional (SEN), stretches the length of the country's narrow territory and is coordinated by the Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional (CEN) - and has built one of the fastest-growing solar fleets anywhere, thanks to the Atacama Desert's exceptionally high solar irradiance.

The Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional (CEN) operates Chile's national grid, unified in 2017 when the previously separate northern (SING) and central (SIC) systems were interconnected. The mix combines a large and rapidly expanding solar and wind fleet - the Atacama Desert in the north has some of the highest solar irradiance on Earth - with hydro (concentrated in the south) and a shrinking coal fleet being phased out under Chile's coal retirement plan. Chile's grid connects to Argentina at several points, mainly for emergency backup and limited commercial exchange rather than large sustained flows - see the Americas interconnections page.

  • Renewable share of generationAbout two-thirds in 2025, with wind and solar a record ~38%
  • Solar resourceThe Atacama Desert has some of the highest solar irradiance on Earth, driving one of South America's fastest-growing solar buildouts
  • Coal phase-outCoal capacity down to ~2.8GW (about 7% of capacity) by February 2026, with full closure targeted by 2040
  • Wind + solar peakUp to 79% of demand on 30 September 2025
  • Grid unificationThe previously separate northern (SING) and central (SIC) systems merged into a single national grid in 2017

Sources: Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional - 2025 review and February 2026 report; Ministerio de Energía (2040 target, 2017 grid merger). Last checked: 2 October 2026.

Where to see Chile's live grid data: Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional - Chile's national grid coordinator - real-time and historical generation, demand and pricing data, with a public developer API at desarrolladores.coordinador.cl.

Colombia

Colombia's grid, the Sistema Interconectado Nacional (SIN), is operated by XM and gets the large majority of its generation from hydro, backed by thermal (mostly gas) plants for dry-season reliability and a fast-growing wind and solar sector.

XM operates Colombia's national grid and wholesale electricity market. Hydro typically supplies around two-thirds to three-quarters of generation in a normal year, though output varies significantly with rainfall (including El Niño-driven droughts), with thermal gas plants providing backup during dry spells, and a growing wind fleet concentrated in La Guajira in the north plus an expanding solar sector. Colombia's grid connects to both Ecuador and Venezuela, though cross-border flows with Venezuela have been intermittent in recent years due to that country's own grid reliability issues - see the Americas interconnections page.

  • Hydropower share of generationTypically around 65-80% in a normal rainfall year, though this can fall sharply during El Niño droughts
  • Installed capacity mixDominated by hydro at roughly 60-65% of total capacity, with thermal (mostly gas) providing dry-season backup
  • Wind and solar growthStill a small overall share, concentrated in La Guajira in the north (wind) alongside a fast-expanding solar sector
  • Cross-border linksConnected with Ecuador; the Venezuela link has been largely idle, with a reactivation agreement signed in April 2026

Sources: IEA Colombia roadmap, El Tiempo (2025 capacity), EFE via Swissinfo (Venezuela link), XM. Last checked: 2 October 2026.

Where to see Colombia's live grid data: SiMEM (Sistema de Información del Mercado de Energía Mayorista) - Colombia's official open data portal for the wholesale electricity market, operated by XM.

Why there are no live figures on this page

Every other country on this site (Great Britain, Ireland, the rest of Europe, the USA, Canada) has a live, keyless or free-registration API this project has actually wired up - ENTSO-E for Europe, the EIA for the USA, IESO for Ontario. All four South American operators above - Brazil's ONS, Argentina's CAMMESA, Chile's CEN, and Colombia's XM - do publish their own open data portals, but this project has not yet built and tested a parser against any of them. Wiring one up means writing and testing a new parser against a live response, the same work that went into each of the other countries' pages - not done yet for any of these four.

Rather than show a fabricated number, or nothing at all, this page instead gives real, sourced background on each grid and points directly at where its real-time data actually lives. See the sitewide data sources page for how this compares to the countries this site does have live data for.