Menú Principal

4.1. General context of the NCRE

In recent years the conditions of market for the development of NCRE in Chile have significantly improved, which has resulted in an accelerated implementation of this type of projects. In addition to the technological maturation in conjunction with the reduction of the costs of NCRE technologies and Chile’s great resource potential, the improvement of the Chilean electricity legislation in recent years, the good climate for investment, easy and economic access financing and the development of instruments to promote investment have allowed Chile to stand out as the leader in the region for the integration of renewable energies.

The measures undertaken by the State of Chile in removing the barriers that limit the development of NCRE projects have played a fundamental role in accelerating the development of the market associated with these projects in the country.

The improvement of the regulatory framework seeks to ensure that the rules of the electricity market take into consideration the characteristics of NCRE so that they can be harmoniously incorporated into the electricity market and systems. Likewise, the legal amendments seek to establish the conditions to materialize a folder of NCRE projects to accelerate the development of the market eliminates common barriers faced by innovation and generate trust in the electricity market with this type of technologies.

This chapter presents aspects of the current regulation relevant to the development of NCRE. In particular, the legal name of the NCRE projects is detailed (by their size and place of connection to the system), the technical requirements of connection to the system and operation, the price system of the electricity sector and the separation between the dispatch of the units and the commercial balance and finally the treatment that gives the current regulation to the concepts of sufficiency and security provided by the NCRE.