Solar power in Chile

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Solar power in Chile
Installed capacity11.05 GW (2024) (19th)
Annual generation19.92 TWh (2024)
Capacity per capita592 W (2024)
Share of electricity22.3% (2024)

Solar power in Chile is an increasingly important source of energy. Total installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity in Chile reached 11.05 GW in 2023.[1] In 2024, Solar energy provided 19.92 TWh of electricity generation in Chile, accounting for 22.3% of total national electricity grid generation, compared to less than 0.1% in 2013. [1][2]

In October 2015 Chile's Ministry of Energy announced its "Roadmap to 2050: A Sustainable and Inclusive Strategy", which planned for 19% of the country's electricity to be from solar energy, 23% wind power, and 29% hydroelectric power.[3]

In November 2024, Chile's solar power generation capacity was projected to quadruple until 2060, in order to help decarbonize Chile's electricity generation. Energy storage will play a key role in taking in excess supply during the day and releasing it during the night. Due to its high solar potential, solar power developments will likely grow most in the north. Solar generation is expected to contribute 46% of Chile's electricity in 2060.[4]

Solar resource

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File:SolarGIS-Solar-map-Chile-en.png
Solar irradiation map of Chile

Northern Chile has the highest solar incidence in the world.[5]

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bar:May color:yellow from:0 till:5.22 text:5.22 shift:(-10,55)
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bar:Jul color:yellow from:0 till:4.82 text:4.82 shift:(-10,55)
bar:Aug color:yellow from:0 till:5.60 text:5.60 shift:(-10,70)
bar:Sep color:yellow from:0 till:6.26 text:6.26 shift:(-10,70)
bar:Oct color:yellow from:0 till:6.76 text:6.76 shift:(-10,75)
bar:Nov color:yellow from:0 till:6.55 text:6.55 shift:(-10,75)
bar:Dec color:yellow from:0 till:6.91 text:6.91 shift:(-10,75)

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Source: NREL[6]

Photovoltaics, annual capacity

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Chile Photovoltaics Capacity (MWp)[7]
End of the year Installed capacity operating Under construction Presented for environmental assessment
2011 0 1 <769
2012 2 2.5 4,109
2013 6.7 128 8,184
2014 362 983 12,559
2015 750 2380 15,769[8]
2023 8500[9] 7729 ?

Early photovoltaics projects

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File:Equipo EOLIAN 2 - ASC 2011.jpg
Solar car developed by the University of Chile

In June 2014, the 100-megawatt (MW) Amanecer Solar CAP, a photovoltaic power plant located near Copiapó in the Atacama Desert was inaugurated. It was developed by the company with the same name, Amanecer Solar CAP, and was the largest in Latin America at the time. It is capable of generating 270 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity per year.[10][11]

The 70 MW photovoltaic Salvador Solar Park went online in November 2014, followed by an official inauguration ceremony on 23 January 2015.[12] It was expected to produce 200 GWh of electricity per year. The plant is located approximately 5 kilometres south of El Salvador, in the Atacama region. It is one of the first in the world to supply competitively priced solar energy to the open market without government subsidy.[13]

The 60 MW photovoltaic Lalackama I plant went online in 2014 and is expected to produce 160 GWh of electricity per year. The nearby 18 MW Lalackama II plant went online in May 2015 and is capable of generating approximately 50 GWh per year.[14][15][16] Both plants feature photovoltaic inverters designed and manufactured by Elettronica Santerno,[17] an Italian company.

The 141 MW photovoltaic Luz Del Norte (Light of the North) plant, located 58 kilometres northeast of the city of Copiapó in the Atacama region, began construction in October 2014 and is scheduled for completion in December 2015.[18] It uses more than 1.7 million cadmium telluride modules.[19] The first two blocks of this project (approximately half of the project's total capacity) was connected to Chile's central power grid in October 2015.[20] The plant supplies ancillary grid services.[21]

The 79 MW Pampa Norte PV solar plant began operating in April 2016 at a site 32 kilometres southwest of Taltal in Chile's Antofagasta Region. It uses approximately 258,000 polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and is capable of generating more than 200 GWh per year.[22] The plant was developed by Enel Green Power and features photovoltaic inverters designed and manufactured by Elettronica Santerno.[17][23]

The 97 MW Carrera Pinto photovoltaic plant is located 60 kilometres from the city of Copiapó in the Atacama Region. The first 20 MW of the plant was connected to the grid in early January 2016, with the remaining 77 MW connected in August 2016. The plant is capable of generating over 260 GWh per year.[24][25]

The 246 MW El Romero single-axis tracking solar photovoltaic plant began operating in November 2016 at Vallenar in the Atacama region, with a 493 GWh annual average output.[26][27] It was the largest solar farm in Latin America when it opened. It uses 776,000 polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules. The solar irradiance has been measured at 853 W/m2.[28]

In 2016, SolarPack won an electricity auction by bidding $29.1/MWh;[29] a record low price.[30] In March 2020 PV Magazine reported that Solarpack had begun providing power on 2 March 2020, to the Chilean grid from its 123 MW Granja project, 10 months ahead of the contracted date of 1 January 2021. With that, Solarpack raised its total operating capacity in Chile at the time to 181 MW.[31]

Solar thermal power

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File:Ministra visita planta fotosolar Cerro Dominador (32536431795).jpg
Heliostats at Cerro Dominador Solar Thermal Plant

In 2013 the Atacama 1 solar complex was proposed as a 110 MW solar thermal electric plant (the first in Latin America) and a 100 MW photovoltaic plant. The solar thermal plant will include 17.5 hours of thermal storage. These technologies complement each other to supply clean and stable energy 24 hours a day. The complex is located in the commune of María Elena, Segunda Región. Construction of the solar thermal electric plant commenced in 2014 and the plant was scheduled to begin operating in the second quarter of 2017, but got delayed significantly. Construction of the photovoltaic plant commenced in January 2015 and the plant began operating in June 2016 with 160 MW of panels, the largest solar plant in Chile at the time.[32][33] By the end of 2020 the project was fully erected under the name Cerro Dominador Solar Thermal Plant and is expected to fully operate in 2021.

Because of its good solar resource several international companies have bid record low prices for solar thermal power plants in Chile, including the Copiapó Solar Project bid at $63/MWh by SolarReserve in 2017. If realized this would have been the lowest ever price for a CSP project in the world. Several CSP projects are under development in Chile, but in the absence of technology specific support policies Cerro Dominador is the only one under construction, yet.

Batteries

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Some solar facilities also have batteries connected,[34] as they can deliver power after sunset when prices are higher.[35] By August 2025, Chile had 4.6 GWh of battery energy capacity.[36] During 2024, 5.9 TWh of electricity was curtailed (mainly solar in the north) due to insufficient transmission, an increase from 2.7 TWh in 2023.[37]

Oasis de Atacama is a multi-site project with up to 2 GW of solar power and 11 GWh of storage. By early 2025, the first phases (Quillagua and Víctor Jara) were being tested,[38] using Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.[39]

Largest battery storage power plants by storage capacity
Name Commissioning date Energy (MWh) Power (MW) Duration (hours) Type Solar plant (MW) Location/coords Refs
Sol del Desierto 2025 800 200 4 Lithium-ion 244 María Elena Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. Electric busses[40][41]
Andes Solar IV 2024 650 130 5 Lithium-ion 211 Calama [42][43]
Andes Solar IIB 2023 560 112 5 Lithium-ion 180 Antofagasta Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [44][45]
Coya 2024 638 139 4.5 181 María Elena Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [46]
Tamaya 2025 418 68 6 114 Antofagasta Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. replaces diesel[47]
Capricornio 2025 264 48 5 88 AntofagastaLua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [46][48][49]
Salvador 2023 250 50 5 68 Diego de Almagro [50]
El Manzano 2025 134 67 2 99 Tiltil [51]

Under construction

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Largest battery power plants under construction
Name Planned
commissioning date 		Energy (MWh) Power (MW) Duration (hours) Type Solar plant (MW) Location Refs
Mesembria 2025 1607 [52]
Pampas 1360 340 4 229 MW + 128 MW wind Antofagasta [53]
CEME1-Dune 2026 1334 333 4 480 María Elena Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. Codelco[54][55]
Víctor Jara (Oasis de Atacama) 2025 1300 LFP 231 Tarapacá Region [56]
Quillagua (Oasis de Atacama) 2025 1200 200 6 LFP 221 María Elena Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [56]
Arena 2026 1100 220 5 0 Antofagasta [57]
Gabriela (Oasis de Atacama) 2025 1100 272 [58]
Cristales 1020 340 3 288 Antofagasta [53]
2026 1000 220 Tarapacá [59]
Malgarida 2027 1000 200 5 238 Diego de AlmagroLua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [60]
Libélula 995 199 5 151 Colina and Tiltil [61]
Monte Águila 2027 960 340 Cabrero, Chile $300 million cost[62]
Colbún/Celda 2026 912 228 4 Camarones Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [52][63]
Pampina 2025 700 175 4 186 María Elena Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. Codelco[54]
Tocopilla 2025 660 116 5 Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [64]
Granja 2026 420 105 4 123 Tarapacá Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [65]
Huatacondo 2026 312 98 3 LFP 103 Tarapacá Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [66][48]
2025 100 31 [[]]

Planned

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Largest battery storage power plants planned
Name Planned
Commissioning date 		Energy (MWh) Power (MW) Duration (hours) Type Solar plant (MW) Location/coords Refs
Llanura 3830 1000 MW + 150 MW wind Antofagasta Llullaillaco 500 kV line[67]
Elena (Oasis de Atacama) 3400 446 7 LFP 446 María Elena Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [68]
Kanut 2027 1900 380 5 La Ligua [69]
La Isla 2027 1250 250 5 LFP 0 Llay-Llay [70]
Los Boldos 2027 1236 252 4.5 300 Petorca Province [52]
Pampino 2029 1000 170 Pozo Almonte [71]
Diego de Almagro Sur 2027 912+32 228 4 LFP 232 Diego de Almagro [72]
Melipilla 2026 922 120 7 Melipilla [69]
Nueva Pozo Almonte substation 2026 762 190 4 LFP 0 Pozo Almonte Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [73]
Domeyko 660 300 2 83 [74]
Hemera 2026 541 90 6 94 Río Claro [69]
Llanos de Rungue - Halcón 9 367 69 4 280 Andacollo [75]
Polpaico 2026 300 Til Til [69]
Quinquimo 2026 200 90 2 Lithium-ion 90 ValparaísoLua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. [40]
2025 100 31 [[]] (template)

See also

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Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ Chile sets 70 pct. non-conventional renewable energy target for 2050, Fox News Latino from EFE, 30 September 2015
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  12. ^ Etrion Announces Completion of 70 MW Solar Park in Chile, Etrion (press release), 4 November 2014
  13. ^ Total and SunPower Celebrate Completion of 70-megawatt PV Salvador solar power plant in Chile, SunPower Corp., 23 January 2015
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  26. ^ Chile connects Latin America's largest solar plant to the national grid, MercoPress, 14 November 2016
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