On September 25th, 2026, the Secretary of Energy published Resolution No. 264/2026 (the “Resolution 264”) replacing Section 13 of Resolution No. 400/2025 (please, find our comments here) and approving its regulations, thereby introducing a special regime for new Major Large Users (“GUMA”, for its acronym in Spanish) considered Above-Trend Demands (hereinafter, respectively, “GUMA XDEM” and the “XDEM Regime”) seeking to connect to the Argentine Interconnection System (the “SADI”, for its Spanish Acronym).
The XDEM Regime targets new large-scale demands equal or over 0.5% of the Wholesale Electricity Market (“WEM”) average demand, focusing on:
- Demands intended, in whole or in part, for intensive computational processing infrastructure such as data centers, or artificial intelligence training or inference facilities (“GUMA XDEM – Data”); and
- Demands intended, in whole or in part, for productive activities such as industry, mining, liquefied natural gas, hydrogen, or other productive activities with intensive electricity consumption (“GUMA XDEM – Production”).
To access the WEM, GUMA XDEM must submit, together with their application, a Supply Plan with a five (5) year horizon, ensuring: (i) covering at least eighty percent (80%) of their demand with new electricity production; and (ii) physical backing of new firm capacity equivalent to at least one hundred percent (100%) of projected peak demand for GUMA XDEM (Production) and one hundred fifteen percent (115%) for GUMA XDEM (Data). GUMA XDEM shall provide information regarding power purchase agreements and capacity agreements executed under the Corporate PPA Market and, on a monthly basis, demonstrate compliance with the Supply Plan.
Furthermore, Resolution 264 introduces charges in cases of unfulfillment of the energy and capacity consumption obligations. Additionally, in these cases, the XDEM’s unbacked energy will not benefit from a supply guarantee, and any capacity coverage shortfall will result in operating restrictions being applied to the XDEM before affecting the remaining MEM demand.
Applications for incorporation into the WEM or for access to transmission capacity related to XDEM that are pending as of the effective date of Resolution 264 must be adjusted to the XDEM Regime within sixty (60) days following such date. This adjustment applies to all applicants, regardless of whether they qualify as WEM agents or not.
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For further information, please contact Nicolás Eliaschev, Javier Constanzó, Daiana Perrone, Milagros Piñeiro, Macarena Becerra Martínez, María Paz Albar Díaz, Victoria Barrueco, Manuel Crespi, Sol Villegas Leiva, Nair Ivanoff Ravnensky, María Emilia Río, Fermín Bartos, and/or Felicitas Orb.