Studies in the 1980s identified significant remaining hydro power on the Uruguai river along the border.
The new studies are to be undertaken by Eletrobras of Brazil and Emprendimientos Energeticos Binacionales (Ebisa), which is the state-owned firm that sells the Argentinian share of electricity generated from the existing bi-national projects.
A key potential bi-national project is the Garabi scheme, which could have an installed capacity of approximately 1500MW.
Brazil has previously built a major binational project, with Paraguay – the 14,000MW Itaipu scheme on the Parana river.
Also on the Parana, Argentina developed the 3200MW Yacyreta project with Paraguay. Argentina also developed the 1890MW Salto Grande scheme with Uruguay.