Argentina’s Impsa in talks to resume turbine work in Venezuela

Argentina’s Impsa SA is in talks with the Venezuelan government to restart manufacturing and repairs on turbines for the Andean nation’s sprawling Guri dam complex, according to the company’s top executive.

Now privately owned, the hydroelectric construction firm is looking to resume work at the Macagua and Tocoma dams that would add 672 megawatts of capacity to Venezuela’s power grid, Chief Executive Officer Jorge Salcedo said in an interview. 

The projects, which started in the mid-2000s when both countries were governed by leftist leaders who aggressively expanded state control of their respective economies, ground to a halt amid Venezuela’s economic and political crisis.

Venezuela’s grid has deteriorated over the past two decades to a point where blackouts occur daily in towns across the country and even in parts of the capital, Caracas. Lawmakers are pushing for an overhaul the nation’s electricity law that would open the sector to private investment, allowing companies to generate, distribute and sell power under government concessions.

Impsa’s resumption of work would be included as an addendum to current and unfinished contracts with Venezuela. The aim is to repair three 80-megawatt turbines at Macagua and, when that is completed, to install two 216-megawatt units at Tocoma, said Salcedo, who is also president of Impsa’s board. 

“Our schedule aims to bring 160 megawatts online at Macagua within the next 100 days,” he said, without specifying when an agreement could be signed. 

The information ministry in Caracas didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the Impsa talks.

While the additional wattage planned represents less than two percent of Venezuela’s total installed capacity, it would help the nation start to rebuild its rickety grid. Blackouts are so frequent that the government is advising energy companies that want to be part of US-led efforts to rebuild the oil sector to bring their own power supplies.

Impsa, meanwhile, was the first company to be privatised after President Javier Milei took office in Argentina on an aggressive austerity mandate at the end of 2023. As a state-run firm, it restructured its debt twice in the decade before that. 

Argentina’s government transferred ownership of Impsa to the Industrial Acquisitions Fund consortium, a US special purpose vehicle that focuses on the energy and infrastructure sectors, in February 2025.