Equity Equity Transactions with Noncontrolling Interests (Details) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021	Mar. 31, 2020
Noncontrolling Interest [Line Items]
Business Acquisition, Percentage of Voting Interests Acquired	75.00%
Adjustments to Additional Paid in Capital, Other	$ 4,000,000
Contributions from noncontrolling interests	$ 94,000,000	$ 0
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage	10.00%
AES Brasil [Domain]
Noncontrolling Interest [Line Items]
Noncontrolling Interest, Ownership Percentage by Parent	45.30%
AES Gener
Noncontrolling Interest [Line Items]
Noncontrolling Interest, Ownership Percentage by Parent	67.10%
Sale of Stock, Percentage of Ownership before Transaction	67.00%
AES Gener
Noncontrolling Interest [Line Items]
Stock Issued During Period, Shares, New Issues	1,980,000,000
Common Stock, Shares Subscribed but Unissued	1,350,000,000
Investment Owned, at Cost	$ 205,000,000
Contributions from noncontrolling interests	94,000,000
Other Noncontrolling Interests	629,000,000
AES Brasil [Domain]
Noncontrolling Interest [Line Items]
Consolidation, Less than Wholly Owned Subsidiary, Parent Ownership Interest, Changes, Purchase of Interest by Parent	0.012
Acquisitions of noncontrolling interests	13,000,000
Stockholders' Equity, Period Increase (Decrease)	10,000,000
Reclassification from AOCI, Current Period, Net of Tax, Attributable to Parent	$ 6,000,000
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage	100.00%

Amount of other increase (decrease) in additional paid in capital (APIC).

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Percentage of voting equity interests acquired at the acquisition date in the business combination.

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Amount of common stock allocated to investors to buy shares of a new issue of common stock before they are offered to the public. When stock is sold on a subscription basis, the issuer does not initially receive the total proceeds. In general, the issuer does not issue the shares to the investor until it receives the entire proceeds.

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Represents the purchase by the parent of an additional equity interest in a subsidiary during the period, thereby effecting a change in total (consolidated) equity attributable to the parent. The purchase of the additional equity interest represented by this element increases the parent's controlling interest in the subsidiary.

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

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Cost of the investment.

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

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Carrying amount of equity interests owned by noncontrolling shareholders, partners, or other equity holders in one or more of the entities consolidated into the reporting entity's financial statements other than joint ventures, limited partnerships, operating partnerships or interests held by preferred unit holders.

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The cash outflow associated with the purchase of noncontrolling interest during the period.

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Amount of cash inflow from a noncontrolling interest. Includes, but is not limited to, purchase of additional shares or other increase in noncontrolling interest ownership.

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Amount after tax of reclassification adjustments of other comprehensive income (loss) attributable to parent.

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Percentage of subsidiary's or equity investee's stock owned by parent company before stock transaction.

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Number of new stock issued during the period.

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The increase (decrease) in stockholders' equity during the period.

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