Renewable energy self-generation reached record figures in 2022, growing by 56.8%

PRESS RELEASE from Acesol
February 2023

(Machine translation of the original release, issued in Spanish)

Santiago, February 2023.- More and more people are choosing to install their own power plants, either with a few solar panels in their homes, to supply small, medium and even industrial production processes.

In this sense, Netbilling had historic growth during 2022. According to figures from the Chilean Solar Energy Association (Acesol), the installed capacity of renewable energy self-generation plants, mostly solar, reached 53,995 KW last year , which implies an increase of 56.8% compared to 2021.

In total, the installed capacity in this type of project exceeds 161 MW of energy throughout Chile. Growth has been sustained over the years, leaving 2022 as the best 12 months in the history of Chile in this area.

From Acesol they highlight this growth and explain that, in part, it is due to the greater investment in this type of project and in some co-financing programs of the Ministry of Energy. "We hope that by 2023 considerable growth will continue to be seen for Netbilling projects, in order to achieve, and ideally exceed, the goal set in the current Government program, of achieving 500 MW of installed capacity in the Netbilling segment for the year 2026”, says Guillermo Guzmán, engineer at Acesol Studies.

Industrial Net Billing

Approximately 46% of all installed capacity corresponds to medium and large industry (between 100 and 300 KW), a segment that also had significant growth in 2022.

This is how Simón Larraín, general manager of GEOM, explains it, a company specialized in the construction, operation and maintenance of photovoltaic plants for self-consumption and Netbilling on a commercial, industrial and PMG/D scale. “More and more companies are realizing that making an investment in a self-generation power plant is a very good decision, since it means significant savings in the medium term and the investment is recovered in approximately two years. But for those who do not want to make that investment, there are also alternatives. One of these is the ESCO (from English "Energy Service Company"). With these, a third party finances the plant that is built on your land through a contract similar to a lease, and you, as a producer, pay that third party a lower rate than the network, which in the balance sheet It still translates into significant savings," says the expert.

To this, he adds that the industry expects to continue to see growth in this regard. “This phenomenon of increase in Netbilling projects will continue along the same lines for the next few years. Chile has been an example in terms of renewable energies worldwide and this is increasingly reflected in the production processes of different economic sectors. Companies worry more and more about being sustainable”, comments Larraín.

Guzmán also agrees on this point, who projects sustained growth over the next few years. “It is important for ACESOL to work with the respective authorities to promote measures that aim to continue promoting the development of the self-generation segment. One of them focuses on being able to increase the installed capacity limit of the projects from 300 to 500 kW, which will enable the investment and development of larger projects, contributing significantly to the relevant growth of the segment for the coming years and achieving progress with the carbon neutrality objectives that the country has”.

The total number of installations carried out in 2022 reached 6,023, which almost doubles the figure of the previous year, where 3,186 projects were installed. In total, there are more than 16,000 facilities that currently exist throughout the country.