Changes To Chile’s Upcoming Power Supply Auction

• CNE has revised the volume required under the country's 1st electricity auction for 2023 
• Instead of 5,400 GWh/year, it will now seek 5,000 GWh/year to be distributed in 2 blocks of 2,600 GWh/year and 2,400 GWh/year 
• It attributes the change to the demand of its regulated clients in the National Electricity System 

The National Energy Commission (CNE) in Chile has pulled down the required volume of new power supply under its 1st regulated energy tender for 2023 to 5,000 GWh/year. This is down from 5,400 GWh/year it announced previously in May 2022. 

According to the agency, the volume of the 2023/01 Supply Tender has been modified to 'supply the demand of regulated clients' of the National Electricity System. 

In the original call, it intended to auction 5,400 GWh/year in 2 blocks of 1,800 GWh and 3,600 GWh. Under the revised rules, it will now auction this 5,000 GWh/year capacity in 2 supply blocks of 2,600 GWh and 2,400 GWh/year, to start supplying electricity in 2027 and 2028, respectively. 

"On the other hand, this latest modification to the Bases has maintained the main innovations incorporated in previous versions, such as the mechanism for promoting storage and non-variable renewable energy projects, the segmentation of the supply blocks into 3 zones that allow the reduction of the nodal risk faced by suppliers, and the mechanism for transferring systemic costs to the indexed price of the contract," stated the commission. 

The CNE has planned this auction to lock in electricity supply at competitive terms in the long term with a view to decarbonize its energy sector with renewable energies and promote the participation of energy storage. The international tender also aims to mitigate risks for clean energy generation projects by providing them certainty of offtake. 

Interested developers need to present their proposals on December 13, 2023 and the CNE will open the bids on January 8, 2024. Winners will be awarded on January 12, 2024.