At the end of June, Chile’s lower house approved a bill banning the installation and operation of coal-fired power plants nationwide by 2025. The initiative still requires the senate’s approval but has already raised questions about grid instability and the replacement of coal with expensive and high-polluting diesel.
In 2019, the Chilean government pledged to close all its coal-fired power plants by 2040. Since then the timeframe has been shortened and the transition accelerated.
The latest change was announced on July 6. It involves the early decommissioning of four coal-fired plants — the Angamos 1 and 2 stations in the northern Mejillones region and Ventanas 3 and 4, in the central Puchuncaví region. All are owned by AES Andes and are located in highly industrialized areas.
While the original plan involved the closure of eight plants by 2024 and the remaining 20 by 2040, the recent change proposes that operations cease at 65 percent of plants by 2025.
The National Electricity Coordinator and the National Energy Commission have yet to approve the new schedule. Yet, experts are already concerned about the validity of Congress’ calculations.
“What was approved in the lower house is irresponsible, because neither technical recommendations nor background studies were considered,” says Álvaro Lorca, from the electrical engineering department at Chile’s Catholic University. “Only a really basic analysis was made, adding up the megawatts, but that is not enough.”
According to Mr. Lorca, it is not a question of keeping coal-fired plants running, but of closing them in the right way: “This requires a lot of investment, and if it is done the way it is proposed in the project, we are all...
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