Chile's operating battery storage capacity has more than doubled in a year, reaching 3,125 MW and 13,555 MWh in September 2026, according to the latest statistical bulletin from the Chilean Renewable Energy and Storage Association (ACERA), reported by pv magazine Latam. Energy capacity grew by 124.3% from 1,405 MW and 6,043 MWh in September 2025.
Solar drives the storage boom
Most of the new batteries are linked to solar plants. Solar-linked systems account for 2,375 MW and 10,521 MWh, or 77.6% of operating energy capacity. Standalone batteries add 618 MW and 2,640 MWh, while systems linked to wind and hydro plants make up the rest.
The pipeline is even larger. Another 3,017 MW and 13,735 MWh of batteries are in testing, most of it in hybrid solar plants, and 5,130 MW and 22,123 MWh are under construction, with an average autonomy of 4.3 hours. Solar-linked projects make up 76% of the storage under construction. Authorities have approved 19,972 MW of battery projects, and a further 8,716 MW are in environmental assessment.
Solar output and share
Chile now has 12,981 MW of solar PV installed, or 32.4% of the total power system. A further 1,117 MW is in testing and 3,748 MW is under construction. In September, solar plants generated 1,936 GWh, up 10% year on year, and supplied 26.1% of the electricity produced that month.
Non-conventional renewables generated 3,431 GWh in September, or 46.2% of monthly generation, and 42.9% for the first nine months of the year. On September 13 at 12:00, they reached a record 84.9% of hourly generation.
Batteries move solar into the evening
Battery discharge reached 584 GWh in September, or 7.9% of the generation counted by ACERA, an increase of 216.3% year on year. Chile's batteries are increasingly shifting midday solar power into the evening, when demand is higher.
Distributed solar keeps growing
Small-scale generation is also expanding. Chile has 509 MW of small generation units and 3,877 MW of distributed small generation, known as PMGD, while net-billing systems reached 538 MW across 44,691 installations as of August 2026. Between August and early October, authorities approved 17 solar and storage projects with at least 15.37 GWh of batteries.
Curtailment is easing
Curtailment of solar and wind output totalled 3,546 GWh between January and September 2026, 4.6% lower than in the same period last year. However, the January to July figure of 2,680 GWh was a record for that period, showing that grid constraints remain a challenge.
What it means
For the Americas, Chile shows what happens when a solar-heavy grid builds storage at scale. Batteries are now moving a meaningful share of daytime solar into the evening, and curtailment has started to fall. For developers across Latin America, the message is that hybrid solar-plus-storage plants are becoming the standard model, and that storage helps protect solar revenue in markets with frequent midday surpluses.
Source: pv magazine Latam, based on ACERA's statistical bulletin for September 2026.
