Araico Corporation proposes paying ANDE US$45 per megawatt-hour to supply the Iguazú AI City artificial intelligence center planned for Yguazú, in the department of Alto Paraná. The price, according to Alejandro Zuccolillo, a Paraguayan investor and company executive, would be 50% higher than Paraguay’s industrial rate and far above what Brazil pays Paraguay for Itaipu power. The negotiations are still awaiting the contract’s signature.
Zuccolillo said the rate would be adjusted annually by 2.5% or by the rate of inflation in the United States, if that figure were higher. In the executive’s assessment, the price could exceed US$70 per MWh over time. ANDE, Paraguay’s state electricity utility, says there is not yet a specific tariff category for artificial intelligence data centers.
The US$45 rate would be higher than the US$35 per MWh industrial tariff and the US$44 charged to cryptocurrency mining. Araico says it does not intend to use either rate: the mining tariff expires in December 2027 and has no adjustment mechanism, while the industrial price would not provide the project with the predictability it needs. Zuccolillo maintains that an ANDE resolution could formalize the terms without a presidential decree; that is the company’s interpretation, and the contract has not yet been signed.
The executive argued that the negotiations need to move quickly. In his view, Paraguay has a narrow window of opportunity: artificial intelligence data centers could set up in Brazil in the coming weeks, as cloud data centers in the region already have. Zuccolillo warned that the country could continue supplying power to Brazil and then have to buy computing capacity back. His statement reflects the executive’s assessment of the risk of losing investment and related activities, such as the manufacture of electrical components, computers, semiconductors, cables and generators.
The project has three stages and total demand of about 280 megawatts. The first stage, at 6 MW, is scheduled for delivery in December 2026—the information does not establish that operations will begin on that date. The second, at approximately 130 MW, is planned for the second quarter of 2028; the third would have similar capacity and be carried out in 2029. Zuccolillo estimated investment at US$5.5 billion for each of the two larger stages, as part of an announced US$12 billion plan.
The company says the connection will be made directly to the main substation linked to Itaipu, with no additional investment in transmission needed. Zuccolillo compared the projected 280 MW with the 1,300 MW that, he said, ANDE currently supplies to cryptocurrency mining, a supply that is due to be discontinued on December 31, 2027. The AI center’s scale and timeline therefore depend both on setting the tariff and formalizing the electricity supply.
Among the investors Zuccolillo cited are Paraguayan, Latin American and North American capital. He named the U.S. fund Founders Fund as an anchor investor and mentioned groups linked to Mercado Libre and Nubank, without disclosing their stakes.