Renewables grow to 20.8% share in Chile’s power mix

January 9 (Renewables Now) – Chile has entered the new year with a 20.8% share of renewable energy in the country’s power mix reached in 2018, an increase from the 17.9% share recorded in 2017, the Ministry of Energy said yesterday.

Almost 92% of freshly added 715 MW to Chile’s electricity system in 2018 came from renewable sources, led by solar (59%) and wind (32%).

Distributed generation for self-consumption increased by 104% reaching 24.2 MW of installed capacity.

The average power supply interruption of 11.04 hours by November 2018, measured by the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), marked a new historical record for Chile.

In 2018, the number of electric vehicles and charging stations in the country doubled to 525 and 44, respectively, while in January 2019 another 100 electric buses will be added to Santiago’s traffic to last year’s 103.

While listing a whole host of Chile’s energy achievements over the past year, Energy Minister Susana Jimenez said that renewables were here to stay.