Enel awarded 1.18 TWh of renewables in Chile
Italian utility Enel has won a contract for the supply of 1.18 TWh of wind, solar and geothermal energy per year through its subsidiary, Enel Generación Chile. The Comisión Nacional de Energía put out a tender for 2.2 TWh of annual supply between 2024 and 2043.
Thanks to the synergies between Enel Generación Chile and Enel Green Power, the Group won 54% of the 2.2 TWh per year offered in the tender, more than any other participant. The energy awarded to Enel will be provided by a mix of new renewable projects comprising of 116 MWp of solar, 93 MW of wind and 33 MW of geothermal for a total capacity of 242 MW.

“We are extremely pleased about this new important award for the supply of electricity to Chilean customers,” said Enel CEO and General Manager Francesco Starace. “The combination of different renewable technologies and some thermal generation has proven once again the winning approach. To this end, it is worth mentioning that in the past few years we have grown, through Enel Green Power, a solid renewable footprint that includes hydro, wind, solar as well as completing the construction of the first geothermal plant in South America, Cerro Pabellón. This award grants the possibility to finance and build 242 MW of renewable energy plants sustaining a continuing investment flow in Chile towards a more competitive and more sustainable generation mix in the country and lower cost of energy in the years to come.”

The 242 MW of new renewable capacity are based on solar and geothermal plants located in the Antofagasta region, in Northern Chile, as well as on a wind farm located in the Araucanía region, in Southern Chile. The facilities are expected to enter into service by 2024, generating around 1.180 TWh per year and avoiding the annual emission of around 500,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

The tender was launched following Chile’s General Power Service Law (Ley General de Servicios Eléctricos) n. 4 from 2006 shaping the regulatory framework for public tenders in order to provide distribution system operators with long-term power supply contracts with generators that would enable them to meet the power consumption needs of regulated market customers in their concession areas.

Enel is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global, power, gas and renewables markets. It is Europe’s largest utility in terms of market capitalisation and figures among Europe’s leading power companies in terms of installed capacity and reported EBITDA. The Group is present in over 30 countries worldwide, producing energy with more than 86 GW of managed capacity. Enel distributes electricity and gas through a network of over 2 million kilometres, and with over 65 million business and household customers globally, the Group has the largest customer base among European competitors. Enel’s renewables arm Enel Green Power already manages more than 39 GW of wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydropower plants in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and has recently arrived in Australia.

The Enel Group operates in Chile in the conventional generation and distribution sectors through Enel Chile and its subsidiaries Enel Generación Chile and Enel Distribución Chile. The Group also has a significant presence in the country’s renewable energy market through Enel Green Power Chile. The Group has a total installed capacity of around 7.5 GW (4.8 GW renewables and 2.7 GW thermal), 1.9 million customers and over 2,200 employees in Chile. The country is also home to Enel Americas, which is the Enel Group’s platform for investment in the conventional generation and distribution sectors in other countries of Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru).