Wind and solar overtake coal in Chile
For the first time, wind and solar generated more of Chile’s electricity than coal over a full 12-month period, from August 2021 to September 2022.
25 Oct 2022
3 Minutes Read
Executive summary
Wind and solar overtake coal
For the first time, wind and solar generated more of Chile’s electricity than coal over a full 12-month period
Key takeaways
01
Wind and solar overtake coal
Solar and wind generated 27.5% of Chile’s electricity over the 12 months from October 2021 to September 2022, for the first time overtaking coal power (26.5%).
02
Wind and solar double since 2018
In just three years, Chile’s solar and wind electricity generation doubled from 9 TWh (12%) in 2018 to 18 TWh (22%) in 2021.
03
Demand grows, but emissions do not
Since 2016, Chile’s rise in electricity demand has been met entirely by wind and solar. Annual emissions dropped by 6% from 2016 to 2021, despite overall electricity demand rising 11% in the same period.
Acknowledgements
Collaborators
Thank you to Chile Sustentable and la Asociación Chilena de Energías Renovables y Almacenamiento for their contributions.
Ember Contributors
Chelsea Bruce-Lockhart, Hannah Broadbent, Nicolas Fulghum
Cover photo
saravut vanset / Alamy Stock Photo
Downloads
Data sources
All data is based on Ember’s annual and monthly electricity data. Data for electricity generation is collected from Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional. The full methodology can be found here.
Latest data points for September 2022 represent the aggregated monthly electricity generation and share over the last 12 months to September 2022 (October 2021 – September 2022).
Estimates for end of year figures are calculated by Ember based on recent trends in electricity generation as well as monthly generation values for 2022 so far.
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