Engie, AES to retire 674 MW of coal capacity in Chile earlier than agreed

Chilean power producers Engie Energia Chile SA and AES Gener SA will each retire two coal-fired plants ahead of schedule that was previously agreed with the government, Chilean energy minister Juan Carlos Jobet announced Monday.

A total capacity of 674 MW will be replaced with renewables, enabling residents around them to improve their quality of life, the minister said.

Engie Chile has now committed to pulling the plug on units CTM 1 and 2, totalling 334 MW, by the end of 2024 instead of 2040.

Meanwhile, AES Gener has reached a new agreement with the Chilean government to switch off units Ventanas 1 and 2 by 2020 and 2022, respectively, speeding up the process by two years.

The Chilean government has pledged to fast-track regulatory changes and investments in transmission to make the announced shut-downs feasible. According to the energy ministry, Chile currently has a pipeline of 602 kilometres of transmission lines and 3,562 MW of power plants, 97% of which are renewable energy projects.

In early June 2019, the government presented a detailed timetable of the first-phase coal shut-down, marking eight power plants for closure by 2024. The plan was set in motion just days later with two units of 171 MW in total at the Tocopilla power plant going offline after more than three decades in operation.

The second phase was to see the country's remaining 20 coal-based plants cease operations by 2040.

The updated timetable of the Chilean coal phase-out is presented below:

Source: Compiled by Renewables Now with data from the Chilean Ministry of Energy.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!