Chile's National Energy Commission (CNE) estimates a total of 8.028 GW of renewable energy capacity as operational in the country at the end of August 2021, accounting for 30% of its total installed electricity generation capacity. Of the cumulative installed capacity, solar PV accounted for 4.4 GW.
During August 2021, ERNC cleared environmental assessments for 1.63 GW of new renewable energy projects including 12 solar energy facilities (164.28 MW), a wind energy project (258 MW), a solar-wind hybrid project (199 MW), and Andes Solar PV+CSP facility (1 GW).
CNE also shared that till the end of the reporting period, Chile had 263 non-conventional renewable energy (NCRE) projects in the qualification stage representing 12.7 GW capacity. Of this number, solar PV plants represent 232 projects or 61% (7.786 GW).
For solar PV, the CNE said 26.9 GW has already secured environmental approval.
At the end of August 2021, there were 148 renewable energy projects under construction in the country, representing 4.536 GW capacity, and 74% or 3.374 GW of this is to come from solar PV technology. All of this capacity is due to come online between December 2020 and February 2023.
Complete CNE numbers are available on its website in Spanish language.
ACERA numbers for Chile till August 2021
On the other hand, the Chilean Association of Renewable Energies and Storage (ACERA) in its own report on renewable energy sector of Chile for the month of August 2021 counted solar PV capacity of the country to have reached 5.207 GW at the end of August 2021. Total renewable energy capacity and storage systems under construction were 4.415 GW, with 76.9% (3.397 GW) corresponding to solar PV projects, followed by 15.8% (696 MW) wind energy facilities.
The installed capacity of distributed energy projects under PMGD regime was 1.477 GW. The association believes till August 2021, Chile's approved solar PV capacity was 17.75 GW, with another 11.342 GW in the qualification stage.
Recently, in a study commissioned by ACERA, SPEC Consultancy said for Chile to have a sustainable electricity supply, the country needs an additional 8 GW of non-conventional renewable energy capacity to be installed between 2022-2025, in addition to already committed (somewhere close to 10 GW) (see Latin America PV Snippets: ACERA, Voltalia, MPC Energy).