Venezuela Teams Up With General Electric to Revive Broken Power Grid

Tue Jun 16 2026 23:28:53 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

An interim Venezuelan government has struck a deal with U.S. energy giant General Electric to overhaul the nation’s failing electrification system. The arrangement signals a shift toward foreign investment amid ongoing power outages.

Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez announced a partnership with General Electric for a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s electricity grid. The move follows years of long‑lasting power cuts that crippled Caracas and other major cities. General Electric’s local arm will provide new equipment, training and ongoing maintenance, answering critics who warned that the Venezuelan state needed external expertise to break the cycle of underinvestment. The agreement marks a broader opening of Venezuela's economy to U.S. companies under Rodríguez, who has maintained a close relationship with former U.S. administrations.

For years Venezuela has suffered crippling power cuts—10‑hour outages that sweep through the capital and other major towns. Signals of change surfaced when interim president Delcy Rodríguez signed a contract with General Electric’s Venezuelan subsidiary to rebuild the national electricity grid. The pact, broken down at the presidential palace, is the latest evidence that the new government is moving toward opening its economy to foreign investment after a decade of isolation under former president Nicolás Maduro.

General Electric will supply new electrical components, deliver training to Venezuelan technicians and set up an ongoing maintenance program—steps needed to address the wear of a grid that was nationalised in 2007 under former leader Hugo Chávez but has seen little upkeep. The energy ministry’s new head, engineer Rolando Alcalá, was appointed a few months back and is credited by supporters with finally tackling the decade‑long power crisis.

The deal emerges amid a backdrop of U.S. military and diplomatic support for Rodríguez’s administration, a relationship punctuated in recent weeks by a U.S. strike that killed a notorious gang leader in the western Venezuelan state of Trujillo. Critics, however, note that key institutions remain under pro‑Maduro loyalists, reflecting a cautious step toward full democratic reforms.

While analysts applaud the willingness to bring in a global firm, they warn that without a broader overhaul of the state’s infrastructure and a restoration of political freedoms the power grid’s revival might stall. Still, the partnership offers a tangible step toward restoring electricity to millions of Venezuelans and adds a new chapter to the country’s long‑winding road to recovery.