Once you grant a concession, you've handed someone the keys to a critical resource for thirty years.
Genneia controls 20% of Argentina's renewable energy production with five active parks in San Juan, backed by US fund PointState Capital and Mexican investor David Martínez. Central Puerto, 360Energy, AES, Solargen, and Coral Energía operate the remaining concessions, with ownership linked to traditional Argentine business families and international investors.
- Genneia controls 20% of Argentina's renewable energy production with five active parks in San Juan
- Central Puerto's Cordillera Solar generates 117 MW, the largest solar facility feeding San Juan's grid
- Stellantis acquired 49.5% of 360Energy for $100 million in April 2024
- AES has operated in San Juan since 1996 and faces contract expiration with likely provincial takeover
- Six groups—Genneia, Central Puerto, 360Energy, AES, Solargen, Coral Energía—control all major renewable concessions
Six major business groups control San Juan's solar, wind, and hydroelectric parks granted by the Province. The investigation reveals ownership structures, political connections, and backgrounds of the companies operating these critical energy assets.
Six corporate groups have carved up San Juan's renewable energy sector, controlling the solar parks, wind farms, and hydroelectric dams that the Province has granted through concession agreements. The names behind these firms, their ownership structures, and their political ties paint a portrait of how Argentina's energy infrastructure has been distributed among a narrow circle of investors and established business families.
Genneia stands as the largest operator, controlling one-fifth of Argentina's entire renewable energy production. The company runs five active installations in San Juan—four solar parks named Ullum I, II, and III plus Sierrasal de Ullum, and one hybrid eólico-solar facility at Tocota IV. A sixth project, Retamito, is nearing completion. The firm's ownership is fragmented across multiple shareholders: Argentum Investments holds 43.6 percent, Fintech Energy controls 25 percent, and four other parties each own 8.33 percent. Argentum is tied to PointState Capital, a U.S. investment fund created by traders and represented in Argentina by Darío Lizzano, a former J.P. Morgan executive. PointState arrived in Genneia in December 2015, the same month Mauricio Macri took the presidency, and has since invested in other major Argentine energy and infrastructure plays. Fintech Energy belongs to Mexican investor David Martínez, known for his partnership with Grupo Clarín in Cablevisión and for orchestrating several major debt restructurings after Argentina's 2002 default. Jorge Pablo Brito, who serves as Genneia's president, is a prominent figure—former head of River Plate football club and former president of Banco Macro—though his relationship with the current Milei administration has grown tense, particularly over disputes about digital banking reform. Delfín Jorge Ezequiel Carballo, another shareholder, is Brito's partner not only in Genneia but also in Macro, where he helped engineer the bank's expansion into digital services through Play Digital.
Central Puerto acquired Cordillera Solar in 2023, a 117-megawatt installation in Iglesia that feeds more power into Argentina's national grid than any other solar facility in the province. Central Puerto itself operates fourteen power generation plants across multiple technologies—thermal, wind, hydroelectric, and now solar—representing over 7,100 megawatts of installed capacity and roughly 23,000 gigawatt-hours of annual generation, equivalent to 16.7 percent of private sector output. The company's majority shareholders are Guillermo Reca, the Miguens-Bemberg family, Eduardo Escasany, and Nicolás Caputo. Caputo is the most visible member, an entrepreneur with deep ties to the Macri era, whom Macri himself called his "brother of the soul." Escasany built his career in finance, holding leadership positions at Banco Galicia for decades before diversifying into energy and other sectors. The Miguens-Bemberg name carries historical weight in Argentina, forever linked to Cervecería Quilmes, the brewery the family founded and later sold to the Belgian-Brazilian conglomerate InBev. After that sale, the family pivoted toward energy, mining, and agribusiness.
360Energy operates the Cañada Honda solar parks in Sarmiento, feeding power into the national grid. The company was founded by Alejandro Ivanissevich, a Mendoza-born entrepreneur with strong ties to Chubut who previously ran Emgasud and developed Patagonian gas pipeline projects. In April 2024, the automotive multinational Stellantis—created in 2021 from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Groupe PSA—acquired 49.5 percent of 360Energy for 100 million dollars, becoming a strategic partner while Ivanissevich's group retained majority control. Ivanissevich's name surfaced in the Cuadernos corruption investigation and he maintained political connections to former federal planning minister Julio De Vido and former Chubut governor Mario Das Neves.
AES, a multinational that has operated in San Juan since 1996, controls two hydroelectric facilities: Hidrotérmica San Juan and La Olla. The company maintains a low profile with minimal staff. The provincial power utility EPSE granted AES an extension to continue operations, but once that extension expires, the Province is expected to assume control. The relationship between AES and San Juan was not always smooth. In 1996, under governor Escobar, the Province launched an international bidding process for two dams—Caracoles and Punta Negra. The competition pitted the Mendoza-based firm Cartellone against a consortium of AES, Panedile, and the Mexican construction company ICA. The original structure called for the winning bidder to invest in the project and recoup costs through energy sales over thirty years, with the Province subsidizing the shortfall. AES-Panedile-ICA won by requesting the lowest subsidy. By November 1998, the consortium took charge as operator while construction firms handled the build. The Province committed 145 million dollars in subsidies, money it borrowed by issuing bonds. The project stalled during the collapse of the Alianza government and the subsequent peso crisis. AES considered leaving, but when construction resumed under Kirchnerist financing, the company was excluded from the new contract, which went to Techint as builder and the provincial EPSE as operator.
Solargen operates Ullum IV and VII, two solar parks owned by the Spoto family through their holding company Sidersa. Hernán Spoto represents the third generation of family leadership. Sidersa, headquartered in San Nicolás, Buenos Aires, manages steel and renewable energy businesses and reports annual revenues of 400 million dollars. The company was the first to present an industrial RIGI investment agreement, worth 300 million dollars. Spoto has not staked out a strong political position, though he recently expressed support for President Javier Milei's economic direction, saying the government's measures for macroeconomic stability are "positively valued." Milei visited Sidersa's facilities in October 2025.
Coral Energía, which operates the Algarrobo solar park, is part of the Corven group owned by the Iraola family. Ismael Iraola founded the company in 1969 in Venado Tuerto, Santa Fe, as an autoparts manufacturer. The group has since diversified into motorcycles, automotive components, and tire distribution, employing over 1,100 workers across five industrial facilities in three provinces. In 2022, the company drew media scrutiny for purchasing cheap Chinese autoparts and reselling them at inflated prices. In 2024, Corven signed an agreement with YPF, the state oil company.
These six groups—Genneia, Central Puerto, 360Energy, AES, Solargen, and Coral Energía—now control the renewable energy infrastructure that San Juan has granted through concession. The ownership structures reveal deep connections to traditional Argentine business families, international capital, and political networks spanning multiple administrations. As some concessions approach expiration, the question of who will control these assets in the coming years remains open.
Citas Notables
We positively value the measures the government has taken to achieve macroeconomic stability— Hernán Spoto, leader of Sidersa/Solargen, on President Milei's economic direction
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does it matter that these six groups control San Juan's renewable energy? Isn't competition supposed to work itself out?
Because energy infrastructure isn't like selling shoes. Once you grant a concession, you've handed someone the keys to a critical resource for thirty years. The Province can't easily take it back or redirect it. These aren't just business deals—they're decisions about who profits from the sun and wind that blow across San Juan.
But some of these companies are international—AES, Stellantis. Doesn't that bring in capital and expertise?
It does, but look at what happened with AES. They came in 1996, got subsidies, then nearly left when things got hard. The Province had to restructure the whole deal. International capital comes with conditions and sometimes leaves when the conditions change. That's not necessarily bad, but it's not neutral either.
I notice a lot of these owners have political connections—Caputo and Macri, Ivanissevich and De Vido. Is that corruption?
The source doesn't claim corruption. But it's worth asking: did these groups get concessions because they were best positioned to operate them, or because they had relationships? That's the question the connections raise. The Spoto family, by contrast, seems to have kept a lower profile politically.
What happens when these concessions expire?
That's the real story ahead. AES's extension will end, and the Province says it will take over. But will it have the capital and expertise to run those dams? Will it sell to someone else? The answer will shape who controls San Juan's energy for the next generation.
So this is about power—literally and figuratively?
Exactly. These six groups don't just generate electricity. They decide how much it costs, who gets it, and what happens to the profits. That's power.