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.
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 generationAround half to two-thirds in a typical year, 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
- Renewable share of the overall electricity mixAmong the highest of any large grid worldwide (hydro, wind, solar and biomass combined)
- Sistema Interligado Nacional (SIN) coverageOver 98% of Brazil's electricity supply, coordinated by ONS
Sources: ONS (Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico), IEA Brazil country profile. Last checked: 23 August 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 generationTwo operating plants (Atucha and Embalse) - one of the few Latin American countries with nuclear power
- Yacyretá Dam~3.2GW installed capacity, jointly operated with Paraguay - supplies around 60% of Argentina's hydroelectric output
- Thermal generation fuelDominated by natural gas, reflecting Argentina's large domestic gas reserves
Sources: CAMMESA (Compañía Administradora del Mercado Mayorista Eléctrico), IEA Argentina country profile. Last checked: 23 August 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 generationAround two-thirds to 70% in a typical recent year
- 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-outOver 1GW of coal capacity retired since 2019, under a national plan targeting full closure by 2040
- Grid unificationThe previously separate northern (SING) and central (SIC) systems merged into a single national grid in 2017
Sources: Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional, IEA Chile country profile. Last checked: 23 August 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 linksThe Sistema Interconectado Nacional (SIN) connects with both Ecuador and Venezuela
Sources: XM (Compañía de Expertos en Mercados) / SiMEM, IEA Colombia country profile. Last checked: 23 August 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 hasn't 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.