Chile's National Energy Commission (CNE) published the Final Terms and Conditions of the 2026/01 Power Supply Tender, which confirms 2835 GWh/year to be auctioned to cover the needs of regulated customers from January 2029 and 2030.
The energy to be tendered will be distributed in two blocks: 1,575 GWh per year between 2029 and 2043 and 1,260 GWh per year between 2030 and 2044 .
What is the timeline? The submission and opening of the technical and administrative bids remains scheduled for Friday, December 4, 2026. The opening of the financial proposals, if a second stage is not required, will take place on January 5, 2027 .
While the public award ceremony is projected for Wednesday, January 13, 2027 , a few days after the economic opening.
However, the final conditions also tighten several requirements with respect to the Preliminary Bases approved by Exempt Resolution No. 292. The changes include continuity of supply, support for proposals, accreditation of financing, contractual guarantees and indexation formulas .
“Regarding the Preliminary Bases, there are several important changes,” warned Teresita Vial Villalobos , lawyer and partner at DV+ Abogados , in an analysis published on social media.
One of the central adjustments extends the period during which a supplier must maintain the delivery of energy and power in the event of early termination of the contract due to non-compliance, from 36 to 48 months.
The obligation thus goes from three to four years of continuity , a condition that reinforces the protection of the regulated supply, but also increases the contractual and financial exposure of the awardees.
The final terms and conditions also modify the reporting requirements applicable to the projects supporting the bids. Section 4.3 eliminates the three-month threshold included in the preliminary version.
“ The proponent no longer only reports events that compromise the interconnection for more than three months, but any event that compromises it before the Deadline ,” explained Vial Villalobos.
The adjustment expands the scope of contingencies that must be reported. Bidders will have to report any circumstance that could affect the connectivity of the committed assets, even if its estimated impact is less than three months.
The amendment raises the level of monitoring over the projects and requires participants to have more robust construction, interconnection, and commissioning schedules . It also reduces the margin for intermediate delays to fall outside contractual control.
The CNE formally incorporated the definition of Direct Agreement , understood as the document signed between the supplier, the bidder, and the owner of the backup media.
She also simplified the definition of "Corrid Days." " Now they are understood as all days of the week, including Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays ," the specialist noted.
Accuracy is important for calculating deadlines and obligations. From this point forward, deadlines will continue to run during weekends and holidays, unless the terms and conditions themselves stipulate an exception.
Regarding financing, Annex 18 incorporates a specific obligation for suppliers using mechanisms other than conventional bank loans.
“ If the supplier chooses means other than standard bank loans, they must provide a backup contract at least 18 months before the Deadline ,” says the partner at DV+ Abogados.
The requirement applies to structures that do not include traditional financial closure certificates. In those cases, the backing contract must demonstrate in advance the effective capacity to execute the project.
The new requirement makes financing a verifiable contractual milestone and obliges bidders to demonstrate solvency before the interconnection deadline. For projects with corporate structures, equity funding, or alternative financing, the documentation requirements will be more stringent.
The terms and conditions also reorganize the guarantee mechanisms. Annex 19 no longer regulates the Direct Agreement and now focuses on the Partial Assignment of the contract between the backup generator, the supplier, and the bidder.
At the same time, a specific Annex 20 is created for Direct Agreements related to existing facilities. These agreements must be signed along with the Acceptance Certificate or after interconnection, as applicable.
The regulatory separation more clearly distinguishes the partial transfer of contractual rights from the direct link between the bidder and the owner of the backup assets. This change will require more precise legal coordination between generators, suppliers, and infrastructure owners .
In the indexing formulas, Document 15 and Annex 9 ratify the limit applicable to the international natural gas index.
“ The weighting factor associated with the Henry Hub natural gas index cannot exceed 0.3 ,” Vial Villalobos points out.
In practical terms, the Henry Hub can represent a maximum of 30% of the price adjustment formula . This restriction reduces the exposure of contracts to gas price volatility and influences how bidders structure their prices.
Demand is concentrated in the central area
The tender maintains the segmentation into three time blocks and four regional zones , which in turn will be divided into hundreds of sub-blocks.
Zone 1 comprises the north of the country. Zone 2 covers a significant part of the central region and includes Enel and Chilquinta customers. Zone 3 concentrates consumption in the south-central region, while Zone 4 corresponds to the far south.
Most of the energy tendered will be located in Zone 2. In Block No. 1 , 1,000 GWh per year will be contracted, while in Block No. 2 , 799 GWh per year will be required.
In both cases, the central zone will concentrate approximately 63% of the energy in each block. This distribution reinforces its importance within the participants' commercial strategy.
Zone 1, on the other hand, will auction 146 GWh annually in the first block and 117 GWh in the second . The remaining volumes will be distributed between zones 3 and 4.
Geographic and time-based segmentation will allow for structuring offers by zone, consumption profile, and supply period. It also opens up space for differentiated strategies based on the location and operational behavior of the projects.
“In summary, there are more demanding deadlines, greater obligations for continuity and support, and stricter financing rules,” Vial Villalobos concluded via social media.
Tender 2026/01 will not be determined solely by the price of energy. Bidders must demonstrate financial capacity, contractual backing, control over their interconnection milestones, and sufficient resources to sustain supply for 15 years .