This paper identifies some sustainable and technically feasible alternatives for electric exchange through interconnections among the electric systems of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In particular, we assess such interconnections from both technical and economic perspectives, and identify the main technological, commercial and regulatory barriers for their development. The analysis is carried out at the pre-feasibility level from both private and social point of views, based on the assessment of different investment alternatives in the transmission systems among the aforementioned countries. We show that, even when keeping the security and self-sufficiency of the power system of every country (i.e., when not altering the generation expansion plans of the countries), the proposed interconnections have significant economic benefits in the long run. These benefits come from the supply side, the demand side, the system-cost savings and the environmental side. We also analyze the commercial and regulatory issues that must be addressed to accelerate the regional energy integration, and provide some policy recommendations. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.