Chile has already entered the era of anytime solar and is practically on par with Bulgaria among the markets fastest shifting photovoltaic generation to off-peak hours. According to the latest Ember report , by 2025 Chile will have incorporated batteries equivalent to 76% of its new daily solar generation, compared to 77% for the European country.
The advancement has already modified the operation of the National Electric System (SEN). In July 2026, the batteries charged an average of up to 2200 MW at midday and discharged up to 1750 MW around 8 p.m. , with continuous injection between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. the following morning.
“ The shift towards solar energy is no longer just a marketing promise: it’s happening every day, ” said Carlos Suazo , founder of SPEC and Galilei Energy. The injection of BESS systems grew 170% in twelve months, from 168 GWh in July 2025 to 454 GWh in the same month of 2026 , while the number of plants supplying energy to the grid increased from 28 to 59.
Chile's performance is part of an international transformation driven by falling costs, increased photovoltaic generation, and the need for resources capable of shifting electricity to higher-value time slots.
Australia appears immediately after Bulgaria and Chile among the markets highlighted by Ember, with batteries added during 2025 equivalent to 60% of its new daily solar generation . The United States added around 58 GWh , enough to transfer approximately a quarter of its new photovoltaic production.
The European Union, meanwhile, added approximately 27 GWh of storage during 2025 , a volume equivalent to roughly 16% of new daily solar generation. China presents a different scenario: despite leading the global market in installed capacity, its stand-alone systems averaged 299 cycles during 2025 , compared to an international benchmark of around 350.
Batteries contain the spill and change the Chilean solar map
One of the most visible effects of the growth in storage is on solar curtailments . During the first half of 2025, approximately 24% of available photovoltaic energy was curtailed, while in the same period of 2026 the proportion fell to 21%.
The absolute volume remained virtually stable: it went from around 2903 GWh to 2853 GWh , despite the fact that the availability of solar energy increased by 16% during the period.
“ The batteries are already containing the spill, although they don't yet reduce it in absolute terms. What has changed is the proportion ,” Suazo explained.
The impact is also felt on the demand side. During the first half of 2026, BESS systems withdrew approximately 2,100 GWh from the grid to recharge , an amount greater than the energy lost to solar spillage during the same period. As a result, energy storage became one of the largest consumers during the midday oversupply hours.
Suazo warned that the evolution must be analyzed together with the particular conditions of the system during 2026. The second quarter was marked by tight supply and high marginal costs , while part of the drop observed in June and July was linked to lower solar production due to the country's weather conditions.
The geographical evolution shows another relevant change. Antofagasta reduced its discharges by 14% and Tarapacá by 32% , precisely in areas where a large part of the installed storage is concentrated.
The trend was reversed in other regions: Valparaíso increased its reductions by 124%, Maule multiplied them almost tenfold, and the Metropolitan Region registered a 12% increase . According to Suazo, this behavior reflects the importance of hybrid projects and the capacity of batteries to alleviate the problem in the areas where they are located.
Projected growth could deepen this trend. Currently, around 3 GW and 13 GWh of storage are in operation, and capacity is expected to approach 10 GW by 2027 , almost three times the current volume.
The policy brief prepared by SPEC also outlines the future portfolio: as of April 2026, there were more than 10 GW of BESS projects in various active stages of deployment, equivalent to approximately 44 GWh of storage capacity . The document warns that this scale already impacts scheduling, congestion, pricing, and the flexibility needs of the National Electric System (SEN).
With that level of incorporation, Suazo projected that the solar spill from the north could begin to fall in absolute terms over the next few years.
“ Today, around 3 GW and 13 GWh of storage are in operation, and it is expected that by 2027 the number will climb to 10 GW. The park will practically triple, and with that volume it is reasonable to expect that the solar spillover from the north will not only stabilize but will begin to fall in absolute terms ,” he noted.
Bulgaria, Chile and the global race to move the sun
Bulgaria is the most direct benchmark for Chile due to the speed of battery adoption relative to photovoltaic growth. The European market went from having virtually no capacity in 2023 to around 3 GWh in 2025 and reached 8.6 GWh in May 2026.
The expansion has already altered its daily curve. During the first half of 2026, the combination of solar and batteries covered around 24% of Bulgaria's demand between 7 and 9 p.m. , a time slot in which photovoltaic contribution was practically nonexistent three years earlier.
Chile is following the same trajectory. Batteries already covered more than 10% of the national electricity demand between 7 and 9 p.m. on an average day in the first half of 2026 , up from virtually no share in 2023.
California offers another operational reference: solar and storage supplied more than a quarter of its demand between 7 and 9 p.m. during an average day in the first half of this year.
Global expansion also shows that installed volume alone does not guarantee maximum asset utilization. The Chinese case highlights the importance of regulatory signals, operational factors, and market design in determining battery cycling and the value they contribute to the system.
This point is especially relevant for Chile, where the technology has already reached systemic scale and the next challenge is to adapt the way BESSs are programmed, dispatched and valued .
“ What’s missing is the other half of the problem, which is more about market design than hardware ,” Suazo argued.
The main discussion centers on the opportunity cost methodology for stored energy . Currently, a large part of the dispatch is still linked to the cost incurred during charging, without fully incorporating the value of preserving that electricity for another time.
The SPEC study differentiates between these two concepts: the charging cost represents how much it cost to acquire the stored energy, while the opportunity cost measures what is sacrificed by discharging it now instead of reserving it for a future time . For a manageable and limited resource, this second variable is crucial for efficient operation.
Chilean regulations have already made progress in this direction, although their full implementation still requires methodological and technical development. SPEC proposes accelerating this process through an explicit methodology for BESS, new intraday scheduling triggers, greater traceability of operating instructions, more granularity during critical periods, and a roadmap toward multi-interval dispatch .
“ As long as there is no explicit and published rule, the dispatch of storage depends on criteria that the market cannot fully anticipate, and that uncertainty is paid for in the financing cost of each project ,” Suazo warned.
Seasonality also affects economic results. The same park that captured 62% of the system price in July obtained only 11% in January , reflecting the differences between periods of the year and the limitations of systems with approximately four hours of operation to absorb all the summer surpluses.
“ That’s why I would say that Chile entered the anytime solar market in operation, and that it is halfway to designing a market that makes it sustainable over time ,” summarized the founder of SPEC and Galilei Energy.
The next bottleneck is no longer technology
The growth in construction capacity is progressively shifting the focus from investment to the technical, administrative, and regulatory procedures necessary to integrate new projects .
Suazo anticipated that the difficulties will increase as the available volume grows rapidly and the operational mechanics lag behind that transformation.
“ Thus, the bottlenecks today are regulatory and procedural, not related to capital or technology. The financing exists and the projects are in place; what's difficult is crossing the last administrative mile ,” he stated.
Guillermo Vásquez Torres , Business Development Manager AMER (LATAM Markets) at Wärtsilä Energy Storage, identified a similar diagnosis in the document sent to Energía Estratégica: “ In short, the institutional, regulatory and transmission infrastructure capacity has not been able to keep up with private capital .”
One of the critical points relates to the new Grid Forming requirements. The Coordinator informed the National Energy Commission (CNE) that the verification procedure would be implemented around November 2026 and that, until then, this accreditation would not be a prerequisite for accepting the start of operations.
Suazo considered that the decision avoids halting projects that are in the process of being connected, although it also highlights the difference in speed between the physical deployment of the infrastructure and the implementation of the mechanisms intended to enable it.
In distribution, the restrictions are greater. The Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels (SEC) ruled in July that stand-alone storage systems cannot begin or continue their connection to distribution networks until the corresponding procedures and technical requirements are defined.
Among the pending issues are energy withdrawals intended for charging, the priority of supply to end customers and the allocation of losses , which keeps that segment on hold while the applicable framework is being developed.
The opportunity cost methodology has once again become a central theme in this discussion. Suazo pointed out that the lack of an explicit and predictable rule affects dispatch decisions and increases the uncertainty faced by developers, a situation that has also led to complaints before the Panel of Experts.
Project processing presents another challenge. Some of the BESS projects declared under construction have already exceeded their estimated interconnection date , while various CNE resolutions have registered milestone non-compliance.
The testing protocols for complementary services and the reporting of operational parameters to the Coordinator became critical steps for commissioning. Any delay in these stages postpones the effective incorporation of capacity into the National Interconnected System (SEN).
Vásquez Torres added that the main challenges include sectoral permitting, uncertainty in power remuneration, technical validation of Grid Forming, regulatory gaps in safety and operation, transmission restrictions, and the lack of long-term contracts specifically adapted to storage .
The Wärtsilä Energy Storage document also identifies management software as a growing component of the business, especially as projects must combine arbitrage, ancillary services, grid constraints, and hybrid assets . In this scenario, EMS systems become increasingly important for coordinating generation, storage, and different revenue streams.
“ Resolving these bottlenecks will be as crucial as continuing to install megawatts ,” Vásquez Torres stated.
International comparisons further illustrate the scale of the challenge. Bulgaria and Chile demonstrate that the rapid integration of batteries can transform the hourly profile of photovoltaic generation in just a few years , while other markets show that economic and systemic benefits also depend on operating rules, price signals, and appropriate remuneration mechanisms.
Chile is thus moving towards a phase in which battery volume will no longer be the only relevant indicator . With a portfolio that could bring the system to 10 GW, the discussion will increasingly focus on how to manage that energy, when to discharge it, what services to provide, and how to reflect its value in the market.
“ In short, Chile has already demonstrated that it can shift the sun in time; the next leap will be to convert that technical capacity into a robust and bankable business model ,” Vásquez Torres concluded.
By Energía Estratégica
By Emilia Lardizabal
By Ailén Pedrotti
