Weekly Market Analytics Chile Vol 12 Num 1

VOL 12 | NUM 1 | 25 July 2025

Power Markets Weekly

CHILE | 14 - 20 July 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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Volume 12 kicks off with congestion-driven prices

As we begin Volume 12 of our weekly market insights, we want to take a moment to thank our readers for your continued engagement and trust. Your interest and feedback have shaped this journey, and we’re excited to keep delivering value as the energy landscape evolves.

Global SEN operation

The average price at Polpaico was USD 96.0/MWh, 18% higher than last week and 105% higher than the same week last year.

Marginal cost evolution in Polpaico during past years

Renewables reduced their share in the energy mix, mainly driven by drops in wind and run-of-river. Wind dropped by 3.2 percentage points (pp.), and run-of-river by 0.9 pp. Meanwhile, solar and dam increased their shares by 1.7 pp. and 0.2 pp., respectively. The increase in thermal participation was led by gas, which raised its share in the mix by 1.8 pp.

The system’s maximum demand reached 12.1 GW on Tuesday at 11 AM, with wind, solar, and BESS contributing 47.7% of the output. The highest wind-solar-BESS participation occurred on Wednesday at 1 PM, covering 73.4% of the 10.4 GW demand. With Wednesday being a holiday in Chile, weekly demand dipped 2.1% compared to the previous week.

Generation Mix

Variation

Power range by energy sources (average prices)

Learn more about this chart

Generation evolution

Geothermal

Cogeneration

Biomass

Coal

Gas

Oil

BESS

Dam

Run-of-river

Wind

PV Solar

CSP

This week, the system experienced recurrent congestion in both the north and the south. In the north, congestion on the 500 kV line Nueva Pan de Azúcar - Polpaico decoupled northern nodes pricewise, making it common to see prices of USD 0/MWh during solar hours in northern nodes while the rest of the system sustained higher prices.

Conversely, in the Puerto Montt zone, congestion on the 220 kV line Lastarria - Ciruelos (Wednesday and Saturday) and the 220 kV line Río Malleco - Cautín (Thursday) led to oil power plants setting the price for several hours during the week. The peak marginal price among reference nodes was set on Thursday at 11 AM, reaching USD 312.8/MWh in Puerto Montt.

Marginal cost evolution

Crucero
USD 54.9/MWh

D. de Almagro
USD 55.4/MWh

Pan de Azúcar
USD 59.9/MWh

Polpaico
USD 96.0/MWh

Charrúa
USD 95.9/MWh

Puerto Montt
USD 129.1/MWh

Solar and Wind production & BESS dispatch

Solar generation increased by 21.8 GWh (+7.5%) this week, with a system-wide average plant factor of 16.6%. The highest solar plant factor was observed in Crucero (19.5%), while the lowest was in Puerto Montt (7.5%).

Conversely, wind generation declined by 59.7 GWh (-20.5%). The average system plant factor was 23.0%, with Puerto Montt leading at 38.8% and Diego de Almagro recording the lowest at 18.3%.

BESS discharges totaled 39.4 GWh, falling short of last week’s output by 0.7 GWh (-1.6%). The average BESS plant factor was 14.9%, peaking in the Crucero zone at 17.3%, and reaching a low of 7.0% in Pan de Azúcar.

This week, solar curtailment reached 12.3%, up by 1.9 pp. from the previous week. Wind curtailment rose to 5.9%, up by 1.7 pp. The combined curtailment rate was 9.7%, 2.2 pp. higher than last week.