Enel stopped operations at its 158 MW Tarapaca coal-fired power plant in Chile on 31 December 2019, much ahead of the initial closure date of May 2020. Enel's subsidiary Gasatacama Chile was authorised by the energy regulator Comisión Nacional de Energía (CNE) to close and disconnect the power plant in July 2019. The Tarapaca thermal station was commissioned in 1999 and accounted for 25% of the total coal-fired power capacity held by Enel in Chile. Enel, the largest power generation company by installed capacity in Chile, will focus on operating its renewable capacity (4.7 GW out of a total capacity of 7.5 GW), consisting of more than 3.5 GW of hydropower, 600 MW of wind power, 500 MW of solar and 40 MW of geothermal.
This decision is in line with the coal exit plan presented by the government of Chile in early June 2019, which aims to close all coal-fired power plants by 2040 and to make the power generation sector carbon-neutral by 2050.
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