INVESTMENTS IN AND ADVANCES TO AFFILIATES

The following table summarizes the relevant effective equity ownership interest and carrying values for the Company's investments accounted for under the equity method as of the periods indicated:



December 31,		2016		2015		2016		2015
Affiliate	Country	Carrying Value (in millions)				Ownership Interest %
Barry⁽¹⁾	United Kingdom	—		—		100	%	100	%
Elsta⁽¹⁾	Netherlands	41		53		50	%	50	%
Distributed Energy⁽¹⁾	United States	22		17		95	%	94	%
Guacolda⁽²⁾	Chile	362		344		33	%	33	%
OPGC⁽³⁾	India	195		195		49	%	49	%
Other affiliates	Various	1		1
Total investments in and advances to affiliates		$	621	$	610

_____________________________


⁽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 2018.

Guacolda — On September 1, 2015, AES Gener and Global Infrastructure Partners ("GIP") executed a restructuring of Guacolda that increased Guacolda's tax basis in certain long-term assets and AES Gener's equity investment. As a result, AES Gener recorded $66 million in net equity in earnings of affiliates for the year ended December 31, 2015, of which $46 million is attributable to The AES Corporation.

On April 11, 2014, AES Gener undertook a series of transactions, pursuant to which AES Gener acquired the interests that it did not previously own in Guacolda for $728 million and simultaneously sold the ownership interest to GIP for $730 million. The transaction provided GIP with substantive participating rights in Guacolda and, as a result, the Company continues to account for its investment in Guacolda using the equity method of accounting. At no time during this transaction did the Company acquire a non-controlling interest. The cash paid for the acquisition is reflected in Acquisitions, net of cash acquired and the cash proceeds from the sale of these ownership interests to GIP is reflected in Proceeds from the sale of businesses, net of cash sold, and equity method investments on the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the period ended December 31, 2014.

Silver Ridge Power — On July 2, 2014, the Company closed the sale of its 50% ownership interest in Silver Ridge Power, LLC ("SRP") for a purchase price of $179 million, excluding the Company's indirect ownership interests in SRP's solar generation businesses in Italy and Spain ("Solar Italy" and "Solar Spain," respectively). As part of the sale, the buyer had an option to purchase Solar Italy for additional consideration of $42 million by August 2015. The buyer exercised its option to purchase Solar Italy on August 31, 2015, and the sale was completed on October 1, 2015. On September 24, 2015, the Company completed the sale of Solar Spain. Net proceeds from the sale transaction were $31 million and the Company recognized a pretax gain on sale of less than $1 million. Upon the completion of the Solar Spain and Solar Italy sale transactions noted above, the Company ceased its involvement in SRP's business operations and accounted for these transactions as sales of real estate.

AES Barry Ltd. — The Company holds a 100% ownership interest in AES Barry Ltd. ("Barry"), a dormant entity in the U.K. that disposed of its generation and other operating assets. Due to a debt agreement, no material financial or operating decisions can be made without the banks' consent, and the Company does not control Barry. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, other long-term liabilities included $41 million and $49 million related to this debt agreement.

Elsta — In 2014, long lived assets within Elsta were determined to not be recoverable and an impairment charge of approximately $82 million was recognized. The Company recognized its 50% share, or $41 million, through its proportion of the equity earnings in Elsta.

Summarized Financial Information — The following tables summarize financial information of the Company's 50%-or-less-owned affiliates and majority-owned unconsolidated subsidiaries that are accounted for using the equity method in millions:



	50%-or-less Owned Affiliates						Majority-Owned Unconsolidated Subsidiaries
Years ended December 31,	2016		2015		2014		2016			2015		2014
Revenue	$	586	$	641	$	928	$	23		$	24	$	2
Operating margin	145		152		206		9			11		—
Net income	64		210		59		(2		)	6		—

December 31,	2016		2015				2016			2015
Current assets	$	308	$	376			$	16		$	20
Noncurrent assets	2,577		2,132				181			211
Current liabilities	626		435				10			21
Noncurrent liabilities	1,209		1,044				122			153
Stockholders' equity	1,048		1,029				65			57

At December 31, 2016, retained earnings included $246 million related to the undistributed earnings of the Company's 50%-or-less owned affiliates. Distributions received from these affiliates were $24 million, $18 million, and $28 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively. As of December 31, 2016, the aggregate carrying amount of our investments in equity affiliates exceeded the underlying equity in their net assets by $162 million.