Weekly Market Analytics Chile Vol 11 Num 36

VOL 11 | NUM 36 | 28 March 2025

Power Markets Weekly

CHILE | 17 - 23 March 2025

Power Markets Weekly is a brief weekly review of the electric market operation in Chile, Mexico, Iberia, France and Italy. If you are not a subscriber, please feel free to subscribe here

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Prices dropped and renewable generation increased thanks to the end of limitation on 500 kV line Nueva Maitencillo - Nueva Pan de Azúcar.

Global SEN operation

The average price in Polpaico dropped to USD 49.5/MWh, marking a 38% decrease from last week and a 20% reduction compared to one year ago.

Marginal cost evolution in Polpaico during past years

The total generation this week was 1.66 TWh, 1.1% lower than last week. The peak generation hour was on Friday at 14:00 during which renewables supplied 86.6% of the total.

Notable changes in generation sources were observed this week, driven by a normal operation of the grid: an increase in the renewable share reduced the participation of thermals, mainly gas. However, the higher variable cost of dams relative to coal reduced their share in favor of coal participation. The decrease in dam share reduced the participation of run-of-river.

Generation Mix

Variation

Power range by energy sources (average prices)

Generation evolution

Geothermal

Cogeneration

Biomass

Coal

Gas

Oil

BESS

Dam

Run-of-river

Wind

PV Solar

CSP

On Wednesday, DE 01649-25 was published, which put an end to the operational limitation of the 500 kV line Nueva Maitencillo - Nueva Pan de Azúcar, leading to a significant reduction in energy prices by allowing the increase of solar and wind generation.

Since the limitation was removed on Wednesday, prices became more coupled, even in the Puerto Montt zone, which remained coupled during most non-solar hours, except on Saturday.

During solar hours, Puerto Montt experienced decouplings due to congestion on the 220 kV lines Charrúa – Santa Clara and Lastarria – Ciruelos. These congestions caused prices to rise on Tuesday and Wednesday, reaching up to USD 270.6/MWh due to oil generation.

The amount of zero price hours were the following: 65 hours for Crucero and Diego de Almagro, 49 hours for Pan de Azúcar, 46 hours for Polpaico and Charrúa and 33 hours for Puerto Montt.

Marginal cost evolution

Crucero
USD 44.4/MWh

D. de Almagro
USD 43.7/MWh

Pan de Azúcar
USD 48.5/MWh

Polpaico
USD 49.9/MWh

Charrúa
USD 48.2/MWh

Puerto Montt
USD 78.3/MWh

Solar and Wind production & BESS dispatch

The resolution also had benefits by allowing the increase in generation, which boosted solar and wind energy.

Solar generation reached 399.5 GWh, a 7% increase from last week. The average plant factor of the system was 21.7%, being the highest in Charrúa at 30.6% and the lowest in Pan de Azúcar at 17.6%.

Wind generation surged to 256.6 GWh, a 30% rise from last week, driven by increased wind availability in Charrúa. The average plant factor of the system was 26.4%, being the highest in Charrúa at 57.5% and the lowest in Diego de Almagro at 11.4%.

BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems) injection improved to 30.4 GWh, a 9% increase from last week. The average plant factor of the system was 17.2%, being the highest Diego de Almagro at 21.8% and the lowest in Pan de Azúcar at 7.6%.

This week's curtailment rate was 9.6% for wind (28.1 GWh) and 18.5% for solar (90.5 GWh), resulting in an average curtailment rate of 15.4% (118.3 GWh). This marks a decrease from last week, thanks to the resolution of the limitation.