Chile has curtailed a record 5,909GWh of solar PV and wind power in 2024, up 121% from the previous year, according to trade body, the Chilean renewable energy and energy storage association (ACERA).
With nearly 6TWh of curtailed capacity in 2024, it is nearly over 1.5TWh more than the estimates made by the trade body in October, which were based on the numbers from 2023. During the Energy Storage Summit Latin America held last year, Ana Lía Rojas, executive director at ACERA, estimated that Chile would surpass 4.5TWh of solar PV and wind power curtailment.
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Had solar PV and wind not suffered any curtailed capacity in 2024, their share in the country’s whole generation for the year would have been 47% instead of 40%. The nearly 6TWh of solar PV and wind curtailed represented about a fifth (20%) of generation from solar PV and wind in 2024.
To make matters worse, despite solar PV adding 2.2TWh of solar PV generation between 2023 and 2024, its curtailed capacity increased by 2.7TWh in 2024.
“This means that all the new solar generation was ‘cannibalised’ by solar curtailment, which indicates a structural problem to the integration of more renewable energy that requires urgent attention, as it reduces the positive impact of our clean energy,” explained Rojas.
Rojas added that in some instances, solar PV plants have suffered curtailment of more than 50% throughout the year, which means it was more often than not inoperative and resulted in a significant loss for investors and the grid.
The lack of electricity demand in the regions with high penetration of renewable energy and the lack of transmission grid have been the main issues for the curtailment in Chile last year, said the trade body.
Energy storage, which has become a necessity in Chile for a solar PV project to be financially viable, could help solve the issue of curtailment in the coming years. In 2024, there were 3GW of energy storage capacity operational, in testing or in construction, with 19GW in different stages of evaluation.
According to a LinkedIn post by energy consultancy company Blend Energy, the average time of the 3GW portfolio of energy storage is 3.9 hours.
Record year investment for renewables in Chile
On a more positive note, Chile has seen a significant increase in renewables investment with a 231% increase year-over-year. In 2024, there has been a record US$5.7 billion in renewable energy investments.
Including hydropower and non-conventional renewable energy, clean energy represented a 68% share of all electricity generation in Chile last year.
“This progress puts Chile as a regional leader, but is a reminder that we need to keep working to overcome the structural barriers that are still affecting the expansion of renewable technologies,” said Sergio del Campo, president of ACERA.
Finally, Chile added 2.4GW of solar PV capacity in 2024. With a total of 11.7GW installed, solar PV represents the technology with the most installed capacity, followed by wind and natural gas.
More than half (61%) of all solar PV capacity installed in Chile is in the northern solar hotbed regions of Antofagasta (35%) and Atacama (26%).
