Market Trends of Chile Solar Energy Industry
The Utility-Scale Solar Energy to Dominate the Chile Solar Energy Market
- The installed solar energy capacity in total power generation in 2013 stood at 0.06%, increasing to 9.8% in 2021. As of 2022, the solar power installed capacity in the country was around 6.250 GW. Additionally, according to a study by the Chilean Association of Power Generators, 2030, solar power will likely reach 30% of total installed capacity, becoming the country's first source of electrical energy.
- The Chilean government and the country's four largest electric utilities companies, AES Gener, Colbun, Enel, and Engie, reached a voluntary agreement to phase out their coal units, which will end no later than 2040. The phasing out of coal units will likely be carried out in the schedule, and it covers phasing out of the first 1,047 MW of the eight oldest plants by 2024.
- The removal of coal power plants is expected to create additional demand for the installation of new power capacity, which in turn is expected to drive the demand for solar power plants across the country during the forecast period.
- Furthermore, private investments are also steering the market in the country. For example, in 2023, Enel Green Power Chile, a subsidiary of Enel Chile, commenced construction of its new El Manzano solar power park in Tiltil, which will be the company's first large-scale photovoltaic solar power plant in the Metropolitan Region. The new hybrid plant has a net potential of around 99 MW of solar power and a battery system for energy storage.
- The decreasing cost of solar modules, clubbed with the phase-out of coal power plants and supportive government policies, will likely foster the growth of solar power in the country.
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Increasing Solar Energy Demand to Drive the Market
- According to National Energy Commission (CNE) statistics, as of June 2023, the total installed solar photovoltaic (PV) energy generation capacity in Chile amounted to nearly 7.3 GW. At the same point in time, wind energy is the second most extensive renewable energy source in the country, with a capacity of around 4.2 GW of electricity. Solar PV technology is expected to account for the largest share of new renewable capacity addition in the coming years.
- The solar industry has cut costs dramatically in the past few years through economies of scale. As the market was flooded with equipment, prices plummeted, and the cost of solar panels dropped exponentially.
- Due to the government's favorable policy, the solar power sector in the country grew from almost non-existent in 2012 to over 6.2 GW by the end of 2022.
- In 2022, Colbún SA, the Chile-based investor, submitted an environmental assessment for a 422 MW solar PV plus storage project it plans to build in Chile. The plans include a five-hour, 240 MW battery system, which would be among the largest energy storage installations in the country.
- Moreover, in 2023, the first phase of Repsol Ibereólica Renovables Chile's initial joint solar PV project came online and now produces electricity for the grid. The second phase is still under construction. The installed capacity will reach 596MW once the whole project is completed.
- The increasing solar energy demand will likely boost the solar energy capacity across the country over the forecast period.
