Weekly Market Analytics Chile Vol 12 Num 23

VOL 12 | NUM 23 | 29 December 2025

Power Markets Weekly

CHILE | 15 - 21 December 2025

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The beginning of summer brought a new record in solar injections, along with an increase in the share of renewables, thus leading to a decline in thermal participation

Glossary

Global SEN operation

The average price in Polpaico was USD 34.3/MWh, which is 35.1% lower than last week but 3.3% higher compared to one year ago.

Marginal cost evolution in Polpaico during past years

A week marked by rise in renewables: solar share increased by 2.8 pp, wind by 1.3 pp and cogeneration by 0.1 pp. These gains were partially offset by a decrease in hydro participation, with dam down 0.7 pp and run-of-river down 0.9 pp. As a result, the higher renewable share reduced thermal participation, with coal decreasing by 2.0 pp and both gas and oil by 0.3 pp each.

Peak demand reached 12.6 GW on Thursday at 2 PM, with wind and solar contributing 76.0%.

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 recorded congestion in two main lines.

From Monday to Saturday, the 220 kV Lastarria – Ciruelos line was congested, leading to price decoupling in Puerto Montt. This congestion was observed at dawn from Tuesday to Saturday, and it was also recorded during solar hours on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Finally, on Wednesday, the congestion occurred at night.

On Thursday and Saturday, the 500 kV Nueva Pan de Azúcar–Polpaico line experienced congestion. The first event occurred on Thursday during solar hours, leading to price decoupling between Polpaico and Charrúa; however, Puerto Montt was not affected, as it had already been decoupled earlier due to congestion on the 220 kV Lastarria–Ciruelos line. In contrast, the second event was recorded on Saturday at dawn, resulting in a new price decoupling from Polpaico southward, which did include Puerto Montt.

The peak price of the week was registered on Tuesday at 11 AM, when the dam power plant Canutillar set the price in Puerto Montt at USD 143.6/MWh, while the other main zones remained at USD 0/MWh.

There were 78, 72 and 32 hours of zero price for Crucero-Diego de Almagro-Pan de Azúcar, Polpaico-Charrúa and Puerto Montt, respectively.

Marginal cost evolution

Crucero
USD 32.1/MWh

D. de Almagro
USD 32.3/MWh

Pan de Azúcar
USD 32.8/MWh

Polpaico
USD 34.3/MWh

Charrúa
USD 33.6/MWh

Puerto Montt
USD 71.7/MWh

Solar and Wind production & BESS dispatch

Solar injection increased its system wide plant factor by 2.7 pp compared to last week, reaching 27.7%. The highest plant factor was in Charrúa with 29.9%, while the lowest was in Puerto Montt with 23.3%.

On Friday at 12 PM, Solar injections reached a new record at 8,353 MW.

Wind injection increased its system plant factor by 2.3 pp compared to last week, reaching 24.0%. The highest plant factor was in Charrúa with 33.3%, while the lowest was in Polpaico with 14.1%.

The total BESS discharge reached 61.0 GWh, which is 8.1 GWh lower than the injection recorded last week. The highest injection was in Crucero with 52.9 GWh, while the lowest was in Pan de Azúcar with 32.0 MWh.

The combined curtailment rate for solar and wind generation declined by -1.1 pp compared to last week, reaching 17.8%. Solar curtailment reached 19.8% | 129.1 GWh while wind curtailment was 14.5% | 44.9 GWh.