The timing gap between project delivery and grid availability has emerged as a primary development risk. Rafael Pereira, director of the Renewable Energy and Data Centers segment for Latin America at Hitachi Energy, confirmed that coordinating construction schedules with electrical connection timelines constitutes the principal challenge facing developers. Completed facilities without available electrical capacity cannot commence operations, forcing contract delays and investment restructuring that can alter project viability.
Chile’s National Electrical Coordinator director Jaime Peralta acknowledged the system possesses general capacity but cautioned that availability varies by connection point. The Metropolitan Region and Santiago area concentrate growing connection demand, requiring early coordination among industry participants, regulatory authorities, and private investors to maintain secure operations. Chile could incorporate approximately 600 MW of data center capacity during 2026 and an additional 1,000 MW by late 2028, according to projections presented at the Data Center & AI Infrastructure Chile 2026 conference.
The country’s electrical planning authority incorporated data center expansion into long-term energy planning for the first time in its preliminary 2028-2032 report published July 24, 2026. Chile’s data center market capacity measured 385.5 MW in 2025 with projections reaching 596.24 MW by 2031, while electrical demand from these facilities is forecast to increase 270 percent over five years from 325 MW in 2025 to 1,207 MW in 2030. By 2032, data center infrastructure could represent approximately 10 percent of Chile’s total electrical demand. The National Electrical Coordinator noted particular strain at nodes like Quilicura, where network demand could quadruple by 2032. Technology companies require specific location-based certainty on connection capacity, required infrastructure works, responsible parties, and completion timelines before committing capital, necessities that general system capacity figures cannot address.
This article was curated and published as part of our South American energy market coverage.
