Argentina’s Neuquén eyes supplying power nationwide while tracking AMBA 1 – BNamericas

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Neuquén, the province that concentrates the bulk of Vaca Muerta’s unconventional production, is closely following the implementation of the national plan to expand electric transmission announced by the Argentine Government, while carrying out its own works to respond to growing demand.

“We are experiencing historic growth,” Agustina Barahona, executive director of the Ente Provincial de Energía del Neuquén (EPEN), told BNamericas, referring to the population and production increase the province has seen in recent years.

In May 2025, the national Government presented a list of priority projects to expand the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI): 5,610km of new lines —38.3% more than the current grid— for an investment of more than US$6.6 billion (bn), financed and executed entirely by private parties under a works concession scheme and repaid through a tariff charge to the users who benefit. Although the first project is AMBA 1, the package also includes projects that cross Patagonia.

“Without a doubt [AMBA 1] is the first of many projects, of many investments, that will above all bring us learning. We are closely watching the scalability of this process, because in reality what we are looking at is not the technical solution, but the methodological solution,” said Barahona.

The executive director emphasized that carrying out this type of project requires coordinating multiple stakeholders with different interests. “How is this project going to engage with the different stakeholders? It will pass through different provinces, through different distributors, among regulators. So what we are looking at closely is how that methodology will work so that the project is actually implemented on the ground, within the expected timeframe, which we are talking about as between four and five years of construction,” she added.

Neuquén currently has a generation capacity that exceeds local demand fourfold, which is why transmission capacity is essential for channeling that supply. “In a second stage, we think it is interesting to look at how Neuquén can offer its energy to the entire country,” added Barahona.

While it monitors the national scheme, EPEN is rolling out its own investment agenda in power infrastructure. CAF approved US$137.8 million (mn) this year for two projects within the province: the Alivilla line, which will connect Villa La Angostura to the SADI, replacing the thermal generation that currently supplies this isolated town, and the closure of the northern ring, aimed at providing greater reliability to the power system in the northwest of the province.

“We are repowering several of our transformer stations and we are working on closing the northern ring, which will provide safety and stability to the entire north of our province,” explained Barahona.

These works are added to a portfolio of renewable generation in the province that, according to Barahona, already far exceeds one gigawatt: “We are handling numerous projects in the pipeline, with renewable projects that together exceed 1,300 megawatts.”

But that capacity under development runs up against a limit that, for the executive director, is the real bottleneck of the system: the grid connection. “Everyone ends up with the same question: where and how do I connect. That is usually the bottleneck we are facing,” she said. “We have the energy potential. Now the challenge is how we expand that grid so that it can receive that energy, transport it, and distribute it.”

(The original version of this content was written in Spanish)