IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2016 - 41

transmission and/or distribution
charges for plants up to 10 mw;
Postal Stamp (US$/MW)
Apply to All
plants up to 20 mw are exempt
Exception Wind and PV
Network Use
from the payment of fees for the
Charge
first 10 mw over up to ten years.
Electric Trace
Transmission
additionally, in panama, new
Apply to All (US$/MWh)
Systems
transmission charges (described
in figure 3) explicitly recognize
Individual by Outlet or
Connection
Equipment (US$/Outlet,
that both wind and photovoltaic
Charge
US$/MVA, US$/kM)
generation plants, due to their
Apply to All
intermittency, do not have a firm
capacity. therefore, these plants
have to pay charges only for elec- figure 3. New transmission charges in Panama.
trical tracing, which offers another
way to incentivize the development of generation from renewable sources.
matrix. according to this goal, 20% of the country's electricity generation shall be provided by renewable sources by
2025. therefore, the government adopted auctions as a policy
Progress in the Implementation of Distributed
tool for renewable energy deployment. these have proven to
Generation and Smart Distribution Grids
with regard to renewable distributed generation, which is be very efficient, resulting in an increased numbers of wind
connected directly to the distribution network, Guatemala and photovoltaic farm projects under development. most of
and panama (with 98 mw and 83.6 mw, respectively) are the photovoltaic projects are located in the north of the counthe most representative cases in central america. Develop- try. for instance, in the first half of 2015, solar power plants
ment of distributed generation that connects directly to the accounted for 500 mw of installed capacity.
an important tool to stimulate competitiveness in renewcustomer has, in recent years, been given an important regulatory impulse and has achieved installed capacity in costa able energy has been the definition of three time periods
rica, panama, and Guatemala of 2.5 mw, 4.1 mw, and for electricity supply: 11:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m, 8:00 a.m. to
6:00 p.m, and 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. another very efficient
10.7 mw, respectively.
strategy were incentives offering full exemption from payment of transmission charges for renewable energy projects
Chile: Leading the Way in Deregulation
between 9 and 20 mw.
and Implementing Nonconventional
the trend for prices obtained in auctions of ncres has
Clean Energy
surprised
the market. in the auction held in october 2015,
chile led the modernization of the electricity sector in Latin
america by promoting unbundling and privatization. accord- the energy was sold at an average price of Us$79.3/mwh,
ing to the December 2015 report of the national energy com- 40% less than in the 2013 auction. a total of 1,000 Gwh/
mission of chile, thermal generation dominated the electricity year were auctioned to supply power for 20 years beginning
matrix, with a share of approximately 57% compared to 33% in 2017. some market players are skeptical and prefer to see
for hydroelectric energy. however, nonconventional renew- the response of the sector in the upcoming auction, to be
able energy shows significant and increasing penetration, with held later in 2016, when 13,000 Gwh/year for 20 years will
wind and photovoltaic solar energies representing 4.6% and be auctioned. in turn, the competitive trend of photovoltaic
solar energy is obtained from the projects in progress in
2.8%, respectively.
the process of privatizing the electricity sector attracted chile. currently, 1,150-mwp and 939-mwp photovoltaic
huge investment, with offers relatively adapted to the growth generators are being installed there.
of the country's economy. Because of its lack of fossil fuels,
chile is heavily dependent on oil and nG imports. this situ- Challenges for Future Renewable
ation impacts energy rates, which are among the highest in Energy in Chile
Latin america. for example, in 2011 the average residential the synergy of the current legal framework and its buoyant
rate in chile per mwh was Us$211 compared to Us$215 in energy market make chile a promising country to attract
January 2016, a very significant increase caused by exchange investment to exploit renewable energy. the targets set by the
rate variation over the period, which reached 40%.
government encourage investors to increase the installation of
new wind and photovoltaic farms. nevertheless, several obstacles
will likely arise in the implementation of new renewable
Evolution of Renewable Generation: Past,
energy
projects, mainly because of their geographic location
Present, and Future
in
relation
to existing power substations. photovoltaic plants
chile was one of the first countries in Latin america to set
a goal regarding the percentage of renewables on the energy located at distant places will face more difficulties, both
september/october 2016

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