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Latin America & Caribbean / Commercial & demonstration

Huatacondo Microgrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations4
System facts30
Sources reviewed12
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Energía Sustentable Cóndor (ESUSCON) is the isolated community microgrid inaugurated in Huatacondo, Chile, in 2010 by the University of Chile, Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi, and the community. It expanded electricity service from roughly 8–10 hours per day to continuous service using diesel, tracking PV, a small wind turbine, lead-acid storage, advanced dispatch, and a community-facing 'Social SCADA.' Published capacity figures conflict by date and boundary: the strongest monitored configuration reports 23 kW PV, 108 kW diesel, and 27 kW/127 kWh storage, while earlier control papers report 22 kW PV, 5 kW wind, and 120 kW diesel.

Research status
Commissioned in 2010 and directly described as operating in a 2019 University of Chile thesis. Monitoring papers analyze 2011–2013 operation. Later publications continue to use ESUSCON as a live case study, but no primary 2026 operating report or current equipment inventory was located, so present-day status beyond the last direct confirmation is unverified.
Historical classification
Community
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
-20.92701, -69.05602
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Huatacondo Microgrid?

4 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi

Industrial project partner and principal sponsor [6][7]

Organization

Huatacondo community / neighborhood council

Community host, beneficiary, and participant in demand-response and operating decisions [6][9]

Organization

University of Chile

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

University of Chile Energy Center

Technical developer, controls researcher, monitoring lead, and long-term technical-support organization [6][7][10]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
22 [1]
KW Wind
3 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
150 [1]
Storage
170 kWh [1]
Monitored configuration
23 kW photovoltaic array, 108 kW diesel generation, and 27 kW / 127 kWh lead-acid battery storage [7]
2014 control-paper configuration
22 kW PV, 5 kW wind turbine, 120 kW diesel generator, and approximately 28 kW peak load [8]
Alternative demonstration listing
22 kW PV, 3 kW wind, 150 kW diesel, and 170 kWh battery storage; retained as a dated conflicting source rather than blended with monitored values [11]
Distribution
380/220 V, 50 Hz isolated low-voltage microgrid [7]
Electricity service
24-hour service after commissioning, compared with about 10 hours on weekdays and 8 hours on weekends under the previous diesel-only schedule [6][7]
Observed renewable contribution
A January 2011 operating analysis reported a 21% renewable-to-total generation ratio and approximately 0.191 litres of diesel per generated kWh [7]
Observed PV capacity factor
Approximately 5% for the early monitored interval, including losses and operational limitations [7]
Demonstration claim
A project-summary source reports about 50% diesel reduction and 28% PV capacity factor; these claims conflict with the early measured data and should not be treated as a current audited result [11][7]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Photovoltaics

Model not publicly disclosed

Tracking PV field reported as 22–23 kW and 84 modules; manufacturer and module model are not disclosed in the cited technical sources [6][7]

02

Wind generation

Model not publicly disclosed

Small wind turbine reported as 5 kW in the 2014 control paper and 3 kW in a project summary; it is omitted from the monitored single-line capacity table [8][11][7]

03

Diesel generation

Model not publicly disclosed

Published nameplate values range from 108 to 150 kW depending on source and year; make and model are undisclosed [7][8][11]

04

Battery storage

Model not publicly disclosed

Lead-acid bank reported as 27 kW / 127 kWh in monitoring literature; project accounts also describe 96 batteries and an alternative 170 kWh total [6][7][11]

05

Supervisory controls

Model not publicly disclosed

SCADA and energy-management software forecast load and renewable output and optimize diesel, battery, and controllable-load schedules [8][10]

06

Community interface

Model not publicly disclosed

Social SCADA traffic-light indicators communicated red, yellow, and green demand conditions to residents [9]

07

Controllable load

Model not publicly disclosed

Water-pumping demand could be shifted within operational constraints as part of the optimized schedule [8]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Management

    The energy management system provides online set-points for generation units while minimizing operating costs, taking into account renewable resource forecast, load, solar tracking, and water consumption. [1]

  • Storage

    HUATACONDO’S MICROGRID / STORAGE SYSTEM [1]

  • Generation

    • 1ph – 3ph inverter [1]

  • Generation

    HUATACONDO’S MICROGRID / PV POWER PLANT [1]

  • Generation

    • 84 PV panels [1]

  • Control horizon

    The robust EMS formulation used 15-minute scheduling intervals and a two-day prediction horizon for solar, wind, and load uncertainty. [8]

  • Community demand response

    Social SCADA translated system conditions into simple visual signals, allowing the neighborhood council and households to participate in load management. [9]

  • Early reliability issue

    Monitoring literature records failure of the PV tracking mechanism and a repair period of roughly two months, helping explain the low early PV capacity factor. [7]

  • Capacity reconciliation

    The 23/108/127 figures come from a monitored-system paper, while 22/5/120 and 22/3/150/170 appear in control and demonstration descriptions. They likely reflect different dates, rating conventions, or system boundaries and cannot be safely collapsed into one exact configuration. [7][8][11]

  • Software maintainability

    A 2019 thesis reports that the original C# SCADA code was difficult to maintain and describes a modular redesign while stating that ESUSCON had operated since 2010 with Energy Center support. [10]

  • Energy-mix interpretation

    Diesel remained the firm source; PV, wind, and storage reduced fuel consumption and enabled continuous service. The most defensible measured renewable share is the dated 21% early-operation value, not a current annual mix. [7]

Provenance

12 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    microgridprojects.com

    microgridprojects.com · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  3. [3]
    microgridprojects.com

    microgridprojects.com · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  4. [4]
    microgridprojects.com

    microgridprojects.com · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  5. [5]
    microgridprojects.com

    microgridprojects.com · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  6. [6]
    Huatacondo, el ejemplo del lugar más limpio de Chile

    University of Chile Radio · Primary source

  7. [7]
  8. [8]
  9. [9]
  10. [10]
  11. [11]
    Huatacondo Microgrid

    Microgrid Symposiums · Secondary research

  12. [12]
    Huatacondo Microgrid (archived legacy record)

    Microgrid Projects / Internet Archive · Archived source

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