Photovoltaic power generation and energy storage in South America

Figure 14 shows the spatial distribution of the number of solar PV farms in operation in each of the South American region's countries. Chile (335), Brazil (218), Argentina (39), and Colombia (30) stand out in first place. Chile has more solar PV farms than Brazil because this country has a greater number of small-scale solar PV farms.

In that sense, it is possible to implement large solar PV facilities in the region. Figure 29 shows a mapping of the future installed capacity for each of the nations in the Latin American region. Figure 29. Mapping of future facilities considering installed capacity in Latin America.

In this way, the implementation of facilities for the generation of electrical energy through clean energy sources has been developed, with solar energy being one of the most attractive alternatives in the region. Table 9 shows a ranking of the countries in South America according to the criterion of installed capacity (MW).

In South America, regulation on the connection of small-scale photovoltaic systems is recent, given that this type of generation has been integrated into the energy matrix for a few years.

As of 2023, there is only one tower concentrated solar power (CSP) facility in operation in the South American region, located in the Atacama Desert region in Chile, with a total installed capacity of 110 MW and a time of stored energy in the form of heat equivalent to 17.5 h.

As a result, the preliminary energy balance for 2019 showed favorable results, showing that the share of fossil fuels is only 2%, being the smallest percentage in the region and the share of PV solar energy reaches 3%, being the second-largest participation in South America after Chile .