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Investments In and Advances To Affiliates - Effective Equity Ownership Interest and Carrying Values (Details) - USD ($)
$ in Millions

Dec. 31, 2017

Dec. 31, 2016

Dec. 31, 2015

Investments in and Advances to Affiliates [Line Items]

Investments in and advances to affiliates

$ 1,197

$ 621

$ 610

sPower [Member]

Investments in and Advances to Affiliates [Line Items]

Investments in and advances to affiliates

$ 508

$ 0

Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage

50.00%

0.00%

Gener Subsidiary [Member]

Investments in and Advances to Affiliates [Line Items]

Noncontrolling Interest, Ownership Percentage by Parent

67.00%

Barry

Investments in and Advances to Affiliates [Line Items]

Investments in and advances to affiliates

^[1]

$ 0

$ 0

Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage

^[1]

100.00%

100.00%

Elsta

Investments in and Advances to Affiliates [Line Items]

Investments in and advances to affiliates

^[1]

$ 38

$ 41

Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage

^[1]

50.00%

50.00%

Distributed Energy [Member]

Investments in and Advances to Affiliates [Line Items]

Investments in and advances to affiliates

^[1]

$ 15

$ 22

Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage

^[1]

95.00%

95.00%

Guacolda Affiliate [Member]

Investments in and Advances to Affiliates [Line Items]

Investments in and advances to affiliates

^[2]

$ 357

$ 362

Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage

^[2]

33.00%

33.00%

OPGC

Investments in and Advances to Affiliates [Line Items]

Investments in and advances to affiliates

^[3]

$ 269

$ 195

Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage

^[3]

49.00%

49.00%

Other Affiliates [Member]

Investments in and Advances to Affiliates [Line Items]

Investments in and advances to affiliates

$ 10

$ 1

Gener Subsidiary [Member] | Guacolda Affiliate [Member]

Investments in and Advances to Affiliates [Line Items]

Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage

50.00%

[1]	Represent VIEs in which the Company holds a variable interest, but is not the primary beneficiary.
[2]	The Company's ownership in Guacolda is held through AES Gener, a 67%-owned consolidated subsidiary. AES Gener owns 50% of Guacolda, resulting in an AES effective ownership in Guacolda of 33%.
[3]	OPGC has one coal-fired project under development which is an expansion of our existing OPGC business. The project started construction in April 2014 and is expected to begin operations in 2019.

X

- Definition

The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66011266&loc=d3e33918-111571

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X

- Definition

Total investments in (A) an entity in which the entity has significant influence, but does not have control, (B) subsidiaries that are not required to be consolidated and are accounted for using the equity and or cost method, and (C) an entity in which the reporting entity shares control of the entity with another party or group. Includes long-term advances receivable from a party that is affiliated with the reporting entity by means of direct or indirect ownership.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.12)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

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X

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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X

- Definition

The parent entity's interest in net assets of the subsidiary, expressed as a percentage.

+ References

No definition available.

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