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VOL 13 | NUM 3 | 7 August 2026
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CHILE | 27 July - 2 August 2026
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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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DNV offers tools for Wholesale Market analysis and operation:
- DNV Power Analytics (DNV-PA) is our web-based platform that provides access to constantly updated long-term energy price forecasts.
- With a refined design and an improved user experience we are upgrading our digital services for our customers.
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From peaks over USD 430/MWh to night-time zero prices, all in one week.
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The average price in Polpaico was USD 30.2/MWh, which is 28% lower than last week and 43% lower compared to one year ago.
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Marginal cost evolution in Polpaico during past years
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This week, continuous rainfall had a significant impact on dam generation lowering the variable cost of the technology, leading to an increase in its output by 95.9 GWh. As a consequence, a new record for hourly net dam generation was reached: 3.2 GW at 11:00 PM on Friday.
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Total hydro participation in the mix increased by 5.3 pp for dam and 1.5 for run-of-river. Conversely, thermal generation decreased: gas by 4.8 pp and coal by 2.2 pp, while oil had a minor increase of 0.1 pp.
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Solar and wind had mixed behaviour, the first one increased its participation by 1.2 pp, while the latter decreased by 1.1 pp. Regarding BESS, its share in the mix did not vary compared to last week, but it set a new BESS charge record: 3.1 GW at 2 PM on Wednesday.
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Peak demand reached 12 GW at 2 PM on Wednesday, matching the time at which BESS had its peak withdrawals. In that moment, wind and solar accounted for 44.3% of the mix.
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Maximum BESS participation occurred at 10 PM of Saturday, representing 23% of the generation mix (2.4 GW).
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Generation Mix
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Variation
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Power range by energy sources (average prices)
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Geothermal
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Cogeneration
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Biomass
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Coal
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Gas
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Oil
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BESS
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Dam
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Run-of-river
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Wind
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PV Solar
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CSP
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The increases in hydro and solar generation, and the resulting lower thermal participation, led to decrease in the weekly average marginal costs across all the main nodes.
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In terms of transmission lines congestion, the main events were as follows:
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- 220kV Charrúa – Santa Clara line, congested on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, decoupling the area south of Charrúa during night hours.
- 500 kV Charrúa – Ancoa line congested everyday except from Wednesday and Friday, decoupling the system from Charrúa to the south. This was explained by the increase in hydro and wind injections in the area. The decoupling and high renewable resource led Charrúa and Puerto Montt to present USD 0/MWh marginal costs during most of the weekend.
- 220kV Lastarria – Ciruelos line, congested from a couple of hours on both Tuesday and Thursday. However, on Wednesday, this persisted from 9 AM to nearly 6 PM, decoupling Puerto Montt area.
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While the 220kV line Lastarría - Ciruelos remained congested, the low wind resource at the moment, combined with the demand increase throughout the afternoon, led to the need of several diesel units to meet the demand, including Degan, one of the last units available in the area. As a result, spot prices in Puerto Montt remained elevated throughout the afternoon, reaching a peak of USD 432.4/MWh at 4:00 PM.
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Notably, the days following this peak price presented a combination of higher wind resource and lower dam variable costs, with different dam power plants declaring themselves under curtailment, which, on Friday, drove prices to zero among the whole system, even during early morning non-solar hours
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Crucero
USD 30.5/MWh
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Cardones
USD 30.1/MWh
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Pan de Azúcar
USD 30.1/MWh
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Polpaico
USD 30.2/MWh
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Charrúa
USD 15.3/MWh
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Puerto Montt
USD 26.9/MWh
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Solar and Wind production & BESS dispatch
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Solar generation increased by 25.0 GWh (+10.7%). The highest weekly plant factor was seen in Cardones area with 17.2%, while the lowest was at Charrúa area with 4.2%. The system-wide solar plant factor reached 11.6%
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Wind generation decreased by 13.4 GWh (-4.1%). The highest weekly plant factor was seen in Puerto Montt area with 37.2%, while the lowest was in Pan de Azúcar with 20.7%. The system-wide wind plant factor reached 27.1%.
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BESS injections increased by 2.4 GWh (+2.1%), reaching a total injection of 116.4 GWh.
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This week’s curtailment rate was 12.2% for wind (43.2 GWh) and 9.0% for solar (31.9 GWh), reaching an average curtailment rate of 10.5%, up by 6.7 pp compared to last week.
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Crucero
USD 11.5/MWh
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Cardones
USD 12.1/MWh
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Pan de Azúcar
USD 12.1/MWh
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Polpaico
USD 11.0/MWh
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Charrúa
USD 10.3/MWh
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Puerto Montt
USD 38.2/MWh
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Energy weighted average spot price using PV production by zone
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Crucero
USD 30.0/MWh
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Cardones
USD 22.3/MWh
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Pan de Azúcar
USD 22.5/MWh
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Polpaico
USD 29.2/MWh
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Charrúa
USD 7.1/MWh
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Puerto Montt
USD 10.0/MWh
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Energy weighted average spot price using wind production by zone
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BESS discharge capture price
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Crucero
USD 45.6/MWh
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Cardones
USD 49.6/MWh
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Pan de Azúcar
USD 48.2/MWh
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Polpaico
USD 48.4/MWh
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Charrúa
USD 16.6/MWh
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Energy weighted average spot price using BESS discharge by zone
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BESS charge capture price
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Crucero
USD 12.6/MWh
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Cardones
USD 11.2/MWh
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Pan de Azúcar
USD 10.4/MWh
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Polpaico
USD 16.5/MWh
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Charrúa
USD 12.3/MWh
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Energy weighted average spot price using BESS charge (both from co-located power plant and from grid) by zone
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DNV, Magdalena 181, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
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