Chile is perhaps better known for its copper, but the country has also recently emerged as a frontrunner in the energy transition with a veritable boom in solar installations. Now, the government is threatening these. It plans to temporarily remove one subsidy mechanism, and solar developers are not happy.
Like in other markets such as Europe and parts of the U.S., solar generators in Chile depend on government guarantees for certain prices, at which utilities must buy their electricity. However, it seems that these guarantees—effectively subsidies—along with other factors have driven the price of electricity for Chileans too high for the current government’s comfort. So, it wants to suspend the guaranteed minimum price payments for three years to continue subsidizing electricity.
The industry, understandably, was less than thrilled. Chile has seen its solar generation capacity boom in the past few years, set to…
