Chile’s DNI is 3,800 kWh/m2 in the Atacama desert, the world’s highest solar resource for CSP projects. The region is not subject to sandstorms. Variable renewables, PV and wind, increasingly supply the grid, and to complement these renewables, flexible dispatchable generation, such as is provided by CSP with thermal energy storage, is needed.
The Chilean energy regulator concluded an auction to supply electricity to the national system over a period of 15 years from 2027. Chile's Calama Solar 3 PV plant, said to be the first industrial-scale solar plant in South America, with a total installed capacity of 1.1 MWp. Image: CVE Chile From pv magazine Latam
In Chile's previous energy auction, held in August 2021, the CNE assigned 2.31TWh of renewable energy. The lowest price submitted was $0.01332/kWh
SolarReserve developed three large tower CSP projects in Chile between 2015 and 2018, all central tower CSP, all fully permitted (contemporaneous interview with then SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith ). Due to technical problems at Crescent Dunes storage tanks closing its Nevada project, SolarReserve was unable to move ahead with the projects in Chile.
The winning developers are Zapaleri, which secured 126 GWh for a solar-plus-storage facility at a price of $0.03836/kWh, and FRV Development Chile I, which was awarded 651 GWh for a hybrid wind-solar project at a price of $0.03719/kWh.
Fraunhofer has published (pdf) data on the value and competitiveness of grid services that hybrid CSP-PV projects could offer in Chile. Chile is the world’s largest producer of sodium and potassium nitrates, the molten salts used in tower CSP.