Chilean energy giant Generadora Metropolitana, which has a generation capacity of 1GW, is looking to expand into the local data center market. CEO Diego Hollweck announced at the Latin American Energy Summit that the company sees significant opportunities in this growing sector.
Chile’s current demand for data center power is about 250MW. However, this demand is expected to surge in the coming years, driven by the increasing need for computing power and storage, with artificial intelligence being a key factor behind this growth.
Most of the country’s data centers are located in the Santiago metropolitan area. Generadora Metropolitana is also preparing to launch its Dune energy storage project, designed for the mining sector in northern Chile. The company aims to optimize its power generation assets, which mainly include solar and gas-fired power plants, to meet these emerging demands.
“Right now, we view the data center market as one of the main drivers of power demand growth in the next few years,” Hollweck said during the summit in Santiago this week. “We are developing data center projects within or near power generation facilities to share network connections and fuel access, especially for backup purposes.”
Hollweck mentioned that the company expects its first data center projects to start by the end of the decade.
Generadora Metropolitana, a joint venture between Chile’s AME and France’s EDF, has a total installed capacity of over 1GW. This is spread across several power plants, including Nueva Renca (379 MW, Santiago), Los Vientos (135 MW, Valparaíso), Santa Lidia (142 MW, Biobío), and CEME-1 (480 MW, Antofagasta), the largest of its kind in Chile. The company is also developing two renewable energy projects, Sol del Loa (800 MW) and La Pampina (200 MW), both of which have received environmental approvals.
Dune will be connected to the grid through the CEME-1 substation, according to plans submitted to the grid operator CEN last year.
At the conference, both the data center and mining industries were identified as major drivers for Chile’s power supply projects in the coming years. The Magallanes region in southern Chile, known for its abundant land and strong wind resources, is seen as a prime area to meet future data center needs.
Chile’s government has also introduced the 2024-2030 Data Center Plan, aiming to boost investment in the sector while ensuring sustainable development. According to government data, public cloud computing contributed 6.3% to Chile’s GDP in 2023.
Currently, Chile has more than 20 medium and large data centers in operation.
