Reliable power is Latin America's $14B opportunity.
At the start of the Great Depression, one estimate placed Latin America 30 years behind the United States and developed European countries in terms of electrification progress. Fast forward to today, and over 98% of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean has access to electricity.
Electricity has gone from a luxury once found only in major cities and ports to now being nearly ubiquitous across the land. But simply having the wiring isn't enoughānot when there are outages to be considered.
Each year, Latin America loses an estimated $15B to electrical outages, hindering productivity and hurting businesses across all sectors. No regional country is immune, even energy-rich or developed ones such as Colombia or Costa Rica.
In Ecuador, the problem has been especially acute as of late. In 2024, a prolonged drought led to months-long rolling blackouts, costing the country an estimated $12M during each hour of the blackouts.
The picture is brighter further north. In sectors like retail and manufacturing, Mexico outperforms not only most of Latin America, but even major economies like the United States (albeit not China). Outages are frequent enough in Mexico to impose real costs on industry, including over $10-15M in Jalisco alone during 2024 blackouts, but not so systemic that modernization efforts face structural barriers.
For local industrial operators, therefore, incremental investments in energy management and automation can deliver outsized reliability gains without the need for a complete grid overhaul.
National transmission and distribution losses are estimated at about 12ā14% of total electricity output, higher than OECD best practice but well within the range where digital monitoring, grid automation, and loss detection can deliver rapid improvements.
And the timing is certainly now, given that renewable growth will increase the need for intelligent grid management. Just look to Paraguay as a cautionary tale: outages remain high despite massive hydroelectric plants making the country energy-rich compared to some of its neighbors.
As Mexico advances toward Plan Mexico and transitions to a mixed energy matrix, the growth of renewable capacity will increase the need for smarter grid management. In this context, automation and software solutions such as Electrification X will be crucial to enhance grid visibility, enable real-time monitoring, and improve the integration of distributed energy resourcesāhelping drive greater reliability, efficiency, and optimized system performance over the long term.
For its part, Mexico has rapidly expanded solar and wind capacity across its deserts and coastlines. So as the country's energy grid evolves, targeted investment and digital technologies can make all the difference.