The rapid incorporation of battery systems in Chile poses a challenge for developers and investors: current dispatch tools may prevent these assets from taking advantage of the most economically favorable conditions in the electricity market, restricting their revenue opportunities.
These devices are considered a "Swiss Army knife" of the electrical system due to their ability to perform multiple functions: transferring energy between different times, providing reserves, participating in frequency control, and contributing to grid stability. However, fully leveraging these capabilities requires appropriate operating mechanisms and economic signals.
“The challenge is that this Swiss Army knife can actually function as such and not end up being a box cutter,” warned energy sector expert Matías Negrete during the streaming event“It Had to Be Said and It Was Said” on Strategic Energy .
“Currently in Chile, to a large extent, the charging and discharging schedule is fixed based on the last available programming. This limits the flexibility that a battery should provide,” he noted.
The warning comes amid significant expansion in the sector. According to statistics from the Chilean Renewable Energy and Storage Association (ACERA) for September 2016, Chile had 3,125 MW of BESS in operation , with an energy capacity of 13,555 MWh .
These are in addition to 3017 MW in the testing phase and 5130 MW under construction , so the volume of projects in the three most advanced stages amounts to 11272 MW , although not all of that power is commercially available.
During September, these facilities injected 584 GWh , equivalent to 7.9% of the electricity injections recorded by technology during the month , with a year-on-year growth of 216.3% .
From the suppliers' perspective, the arrival of new projects also alters business expectations. Germán Rotter , Sales Manager LATAM at Chint Power, believes that increased competition could gradually reduce the margins earned by the initial installations.
“Those who start out first will probably be the biggest winners. Then they’ll start competing with each other and prices will tend to level out. That’s why we’ll have to look for other incentives and revenue streams, such as those associated with complementary services,” he said.
Their analysis introduces an additional concern for companies developing storage: the need to diversify sources of remuneration , in a scenario where energy arbitrage could offer increasingly tight margins.
Opportunity cost comes into play
The unique feature of BESS is that each discharge decision affects its subsequent availability. Using stored electricity at a given time means foregoing its use later , when prices or system needs might be different.
“Unlike a thermal power plant, the main operating cost of a battery is not necessarily an accounting cost,” explained Negrete, who highlighted the importance of opportunity cost in operational decisions.
“If I can’t value that energy, how does the operator decide in real time whether it’s worth dispatching the next MW from a thermal power plant or a battery?” he questioned.
The discussion gains relevance given the evolution of wholesale prices. According to the National Electric Coordinator's Monthly Report published in September 2026 , the average real marginal costs in August reached USD 29.7/MWh in Crucero, USD 30.4/MWh in Quillota, and USD 34.7/MWh in Puerto Montt .
A year earlier, those same indicators had registered 35.4 USD/MWh, 44.8 USD/MWh, and 50.3 USD/MWh , respectively. This represents year-on-year decreases of 16.2%, 32.1%, and 31.1% .
Although these variations do not allow us to attribute economic losses to the shipping conditions, they show a market whose price signals are crucial for the valuation of available resources.
In this context, Ana Lía Rojas , executive director of ACERA, emphasized: “In our system, the Coordinator determines the charging and discharging of the battery. It is not simply a free decision of the owner.”
According to the executive, the goal should be to reconcile the needs of the electrical system with the economic interests of those who invest in this technology.
“We must minimize the cost to the system without harming, through inefficient operation, the remuneration received by the various assets,” he said.
Revenue uncertainty also influences financing decisions. Rotter noted that, despite the potential appeal of the short-term market, many investors continue to seek PPAs that provide predictability for their projects.
As an example, he recounted that a client asked him to identify a ready-to-build hybrid facility that had both a purchase and sale contract for electricity.
“That’s what everyone is looking for. It’s a unicorn,” he commented.
The executive added that many investors still do not want to take on the risk of exposure to the spot market , even when its conditions may be attractive.
This commercial difficulty, although not necessarily stemming from operational limitations, introduces another variable that companies must consider when assessing the financial viability of new facilities.
An operational change with a horizon of 2029
The debate is taking place as the National Electric Coordinator moves forward with modernizing its dispatch system. On September 1, 2026 , the agency published its Work Plan for the Implementation and Operation of the Automatic Economic Dispatch Tool, in compliance with Supreme Decree No. 32 of 2026 .
The initiative includes incorporating security-restricted economic dispatch (SCED) , aimed at reducing the execution times of instructions, improving their traceability and strengthening the response to variations in the conditions of the National Electric System.
The timeline establishes signal integration and technology selection during 2026, engineering development and factory testing in 2027, and on-site trials and the start of white-launch operations in 2028. Production launch is planned for 2029 , in accordance with the deadlines established by the regulation.
The plan also identifies the need to close gaps in the availability, quality, and timeliness of real-time information provided by participating companies. This requires properly integrating generation and storage units into control systems and ensuring the correct reception of operational instructions.
On this point, Rojas argued that technological advancement must be accompanied by greater responsibility on the part of the actors in the sector.
“Renewables need to step up. We are no longer a marginal contribution to the system. We are structural,” he stated.
In that regard, he highlighted the obligations related to the accuracy of forecasts, communications, and the parameters necessary to guarantee security of supply.
The technological upgrade does not mean that batteries currently lack economic planning. The models used by the Coordinator already incorporate optimization mechanisms, although challenges remain in perfecting the valuation of opportunity cost and automating real-time decisions .
With a growing portfolio of investments in storage, the evolution of dispatch becomes a variable for the competitiveness of projects in Chile , where the ability to capture income will depend both on technological performance and on the conditions established by the market.
By Energía Estratégica
By Emilia Lardizabal
By Matías Medinilla
