At a Glance: Latin America Power’s renewables assets in Chile

Embattled Chilean renewables company Latin America Power (LAP) has around 260MW of installed capacity in the country spread across three assets.

Present in Chile since 2011, LAP has filed for bankruptcy in the US, planning to restructure more than US$400mn of debt.

The Santiago-based company’s plants mentioned in court documents are 193MW Atacama region wind park San Juan and 46MW Coquimbo region wind farm Totoral. 

LAP also built the 25MW Carilafquén Malalcahuello run-of-the-river hydropower asset in Araucanía region, which entered service in 2016.

A US$200mn, 157MW San Juan expansion project, which includes a battery storage component, is in the environmental review phase. 

LAP has offloaded wind projects La Cabaña and Rihue to power firm Enel Chile. Built on the Araucanía-Biobío region border, 106MW La Cabaña has a 34MW battery storage system in the construction phase, while Rihue (120MW wind, 34MW storage, Biobío region) is shovel-ready.  

Regarding the bankruptcy filing, LAP – a venture belonging to GMR Holding, Patria Investimientos and BTG Pactual – cited "volatility in the Chilean energy market driven by severe drought conditions."  A sale process is expected by end-2025, Wall Street Journal reported. 

Generators have been impacted by curtailment and price decoupling, factors particularly hurting pure-play renewables firms with power-purchase agreements. Like other countries decarbonizing their grids, Chile has seen a rapid buildout of renewables capacity that has resulted in oversupply during certain hours and that has outpaced powerline construction.

Hydrological conditions have improved this year, reducing the variance between marginal costs at different points on the grid.

Fellow player Mainstream Renewable Power recently concluded a reorganization process in Chile and there have been other reports of financial stress.

Chile’s energy transition bill contains a measure to help ease pressure on companies. Building energy storage systems is seen as a key solution, along with constructing new transmission lines.