2020 About Solar power, selling to grid + Net Billing in Chile:

• in 2025 electricity price in Chile is (really hard to read small letter pdf): https://www.cge.cl La SerenaAv. José Manuel Balmaceda 2195, local 101La Serena Chile
  • what explains the very way too high electricity prices in Chile? 2020: colonialistA sells to colonialistB: Naturgy (Spanish company) sells electricity grid of CGE (Chilean power company) to China's state woned company
  • https://www.cge.cl/informacion-comercial/tarifas-y-procesos-tarifarios/
  • https://www.cge.cl/informacion-comercial/tarifas-y-procesos-tarifarios/tarifa-de-suministro/
  • https://www.cge.cl/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Tarifas-de-Suministro-Electrico-vigentes-a-partir-del-1-de-septiembre-2025.pdf
  • when user sells to grid user gets aprox 54 CLP/kWh (= 0.05EUR/kWh which is unfortunately really not a lot and as the law text below says Chile's gov wants to prioritize self consumption of energy not feed2grid) under the Net-Billing model. For commercial and industrial customers (10kW to 2 MW), this rate is the same, equal to the exact energy price.
  • Citizen generation, established by Law 20,571, is a system that allows for self-generation of energy based on Non-Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE) and efficient cogeneration. This law, also known as Netbilling, Netmetering, or Distributed Generation, grants users the right to sell their surplus energy directly to the electricity distributor at a regulated price, which is published on each distribution company's website.
  • Any electricity generation system seeking to comply with this law must be declared to the Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels (SEC)
    • which has had a Specialized Technical Unit for NCRE since 2015 to address public requirements
    • This electrical declaration must be completed by an authorized installer and must also include the technical details of the installation, as well as the products to be used
    • SEC subsequently inspects the installation and if it meets the technical requirements, authorizes its operation
    • Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels (SEC) chile list of allowed solar products: https://wlhttp.sec.cl/BuscadorSST/buscador.do
    • After this, the owner must notify the electricity distribution company of its connection to the grid
    • The SEC is making available to the public a list of products authorized for use in citizen generation systems
    • as well as the contact information of all installers who have successfully declared a system of this type through the TE4 process
    • certificate is submitted to the distribution electricity company along with the corresponding documentation
    • This will allow the company to connect the two-way meter to the electricity grid
    • The user will ultimately be able to comply with Law No. 20,571, allowing them to generate and consume their own energy and sell their surplus energy to distribution companies at a regulated price
    • In 2018, Law 20,571 was amended to present a new outlook for residential and industrial customers in Chile, becoming Law 21,118. Previously, this law allowed for renewable energy projects of up to 100 nominal kilowatts. Today, projects can be up to 300 nominal kilowatts, providing facilities for customers who opt for a self-generation system with renewable energy.
    Benefits it would bring:
    • The transfer of a surplus balance to another address (where the electricity bill has the same Tax ID number for both locations) that is within the concession area of ​​the same electricity distributor.
    • The discount on the surplus from the monthly bill applies to all distributor charges and not just to the energy consumed.
    • The existence of electricity generation systems for self-consumption in communities or joint properties (buildings, condominiums, communities in rural areas).
    To be eligible to receive payments for a project's energy surpluses under this new Netbilling Law, the project must be proven to be solely for self-consumption (through the facility's consumption profile and the project's expected generation). Only residential customers with a connected capacity of up to 20 kilowatts and non-profit legal entities with a connected capacity of up to 50 kilowatts can avoid these restrictions.

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    Amendments to Law 20,571 on Distributed Generation February 9, 2018
    On January 9, the Senate unanimously approved the bill amending Law No. 20,571 on distributed generation, also known as net billing, in its first constitutional procedure. The bill was then passed to the Chamber of Deputies for its second constitutional procedure. Adopting some of the amendments proposed by a parliamentary motion, the following changes proposed by the Ministry of Energy were approved: a) Raising the installed capacity limit for generators from 100 kW to 300 kW to support the development of larger self-consumption projects, which primarily benefit productive activities; and b) Reinforcing the fact that the Law aims to promote self-consumption and not energy sales, which have a different regulatory framework (PMGD). To this end, it is established that any surpluses that, over a prolonged period of time (for example, one or more years) cannot be deducted from the electricity bill of the establishment where the generation system is installed, may be deducted from the electricity bills of other establishments owned by the same owner (same RUT) and for the same distribution company.
    In this regard, it should be noted that in no case do the amendments to the Law eliminate the right to have grid injections translated into discounts on the electricity bill. The legal amendment maintains the right to inject energy into the grid and have these injections valued, with their economic value deducted from the electricity bill in the same manner as under the current law. What is required is that, if at the end of each period defined in the contract (which may be an extended period, one or more years), there are undiscounted amounts, the customer can use this valuation to deduct other electricity supply accounts they may have, thereby reinforcing that this is a law that supports energy self-supply. If the customer does not have other accounts, what has not been deducted is not lost, but rather accumulates.
    Regarding the increase in the limit from 100 kW to 300 kW, the application of the Law has shown that the 100 kW limit is a barrier to the development of projects that are effectively intended for self-consumption. This was evident in that some companies limited the size of projects to not exceed 100 kW, while others designed larger projects while ensuring that surpluses would never be injected into the grid, thus hindering project efficiency.
    HOW THE LAW WOULD BE APPLIED INCLUDING MODIFICATIONS
    For example, under the current law, a farmer who has very low electricity consumption in winter because he doesn't irrigate during that season can inject energy into the grid during that time to receive discounts on his bill in spring and summer, when his electricity consumption is high. Also, if his consumption varies from year to year, what he doesn't deduct in one year can be deducted in subsequent years. Now, with the legal modification, he can also deduct it from the electricity bill of another property he owns located with the same distribution company.
    A similar situation applies to companies that require a lot of refrigeration and have large areas, either on the ground or on roofs, such as retail, agribusiness (packing, vineyards, fruit farms), manufacturing, refrigerated warehouses, etc. ,
    Medium-sized businesses, such as supermarkets or shopping centers, can also be included.
    ABOUT LAW 20.571 ON DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
    Law 20.571 promotes self-consumption of electricity. It grants customers with regulated tariffs who own renewable energy generation facilities the right to inject surplus energy generated that they do not consume at any given time into the grid, to have it valued by the distribution company at the same energy price charged for consumption, to deduct it from the electricity bill, and, eventually, to receive other compensation associated with the electricity supply from the distribution company. This avoids investing in batteries.
    Law 20.571 focuses on projects for self-consumption, not energy sales. For the latter, the legal framework is the PMGD (Distributed Generation Project Management System), which allows for the development of distributed generation projects of up to 9 MW, with no lower limit, and which includes simpler procedures than those for large generation projects. As of December 31, 2017, 2,076 generation systems had been declared to the Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels under Law 20,571, with a total capacity exceeding 12 MW. Ninety-nine percent of these projects are solar photovoltaic, and 81% are residential. src: https://energia.gob.cl/noticias/nacional/modificaciones-la-ley-20571-de-generacion-distribuida