Chile energy mix & electricity

Electricity generation in Chile reached 88.5 TWh in 2025. That puts it in the same league as Uzbekistan. The mix is unusually balanced. solar power leads with just 25.1%, closely followed by hydropower (22.2%) and coal (17.8%).

66.4% of the country’s power came from renewable sources: 43rd of 158 countries. That is 33 points above the world average of 33.8%. It is also below the average for South America (76.8%). Generating one kWh emits about 289 g CO₂e here (world average: 458 g). That makes the grid comfortably cleaner than the global average. In the cleanest-grid ranking, Chile is 60th of 158.

The decade’s big winner is solar power, up 20.9 TWh between 2015 and 2025 (plus 23.4 percentage points of the mix). Meanwhile coal lost the most ground, down 12.3 TWh. The net effect: renewables gained 23.2 percentage points of share since 2015. Total generation grew by 13.6 TWh over the same period. Carbon intensity dropped from 491 to 289 g/kWh, a 41% cut.

The coal phase-down is well under way: 37.4% of generation in 2015, 17.8% by 2025. In absolute terms, coal generation peaked in 2016 at 30.3 TWh and has since fallen 48%.

Solar (25.1%) and wind (13.1%) now add up to 38.1% of generation; the global figure is 17.3%. Per person, that is 1,117 kWh of solar electricity a year, 3.3× the global average. In solar electricity per person, Chile ranks 10th in the world. Wind adds 583 kWh per person, the 27th-highest figure of 156 countries. Solar first passed 1% of the mix in 2015.

Generation per person is 4,456 kWh a year, 1.2× the world average of 3,860 kWh. Chile does not trade electricity with other countries: the grid is not interconnected with any neighbour.