This essay summarizes the background and implications of the construction project of the Pangue reservoir on the Río Bío Bío in Chile. The negotiations to finance this hydroelectric project establish an unusual precedent because the electric company in charge of the works (Pangue, S.A.) created the Pehuen Foundation which through active participation, would bring capital to an entity in which the community and the company participate in the design and implementation of development micro-projects. This text goes through the project in its institutional contexts when it began, the guidelines of the Pehuen Foundation and its implication for future hydroelectric and energy projects in Latin America.