Securing land for utility-scale solar and wind in Chile
We screen parcels for what a solar or wind plant needs, negotiate with every owner and hold the site with a land option, then a lease by public deed recorded with the Conservador de Bienes Raíces, the local land registry.
What we screen for on a solar or wind site
We run these checks before any owner is contacted.
Slope and terrain
Solar PV needs continuous, gently sloping ground, because grading drives cost. Wind depends more on exposure and ridgelines, but every pad still needs a buildable platform and a road. We map slope from public elevation models, then walk the candidate sectors.
Distance to the grid
The distance to a substation or line sets the length of the gen-tie and the number of parcels it crosses. A wind farm adds collection lines between turbines. Being close to a substation does not mean capacity is available; that depends on the processes of the Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional, Chile’s independent system operator.
Access for heavy loads
Transformers, modules and, for wind, blades and tower sections need wide roads with gentle grades from the public road to each pad. A road across a neighbor's land needs its own easement. In rural areas, no building may stand within 35 m of the fence line along a national road (LGUC, art. 56).
Mining concessions
We check every candidate parcel against Sernageomin’s mining cadastre. An overlap matters more for solar, which covers most of its leased area, than for wind, where turbines can be sited around it.
Indigenous and state land
We check CONADI’s indigenous land registry and the state land maps of the Ministry of National Assets (Bienes Nacionales) at screening. Indigenous land limits who may lease and for how long, and state land is granted by concession rather than leased: see how Chile differs.
Water and native forest
Water use rights are separate from the land and recorded in their own register (Water Code, arts. 6 and 114), so panel washing needs its own water right or a supply contract. Cutting native forest requires a management plan approved by CONAF, the forest service (Ley 20.283, art. 5).
Solar and wind leases are different contracts
Both start with an option and end in a lease by public deed. What the lease has to cover depends on how much of the land the plant occupies.
Solar PV lease
The plant covers most of the area it leases, so the lease fixes a polygon and the owner gives up other uses inside it. Rent can be set per hectare or per MW. The option can cover a larger area and release what the final layout leaves out.
Wind lease
Turbines, pads, roads and the substation occupy a small part of a large leased polygon. Grazing or farming can continue around them, and the lease says where and on what terms. Rent can be set per MW installed or as a share of revenue with a minimum payment.
What both leases need
- An option term that covers permitting and your interconnection schedule.
- The owner’s signature on the request for the rural construction approval under Art. 55 LGUC, since under the SAG’s procedure the owner is the applicant, and access for the soil pits it requires.
- Assignment to the project company and its lenders: in a rural lease, the tenant needs the owner’s prior written consent to assign (DL 993, art. 7).
- For wind, the right to install a met mast or lidar unit for the wind campaign, with its location, access and removal agreed.
- Removal of the plant at the end of the lease, backed by decommissioning security.
The option and lease sequence, with what you receive at each stage, is on our page on how land acquisition works in Chile. Gen-tie and access easements across neighboring parcels are covered under right-of-way for transmission lines.
Looking for solar land in the Coquimbo Region
Estancia El Chañar, our property in La Higuera, has sectors available for solar PV. A 20 MW wind farm has operated there under a long-term lease since 2011, and we have granted a land option on part of it for a solar PV project. If the property could suit your project, we tell you up front, and in that conversation we act as the landowner, not as your advisor, and project counsel is your own.
Frequently asked questions
What is a land option in Chile, and how long does it last?
A land option holds the land while you measure, permit and request interconnection, against option payments. Chilean landowners often call it a reserva. It can be drafted as a promise agreement (promesa), which binds only if it is in writing, sets a term or condition and specifies the lease (Civil Code, art. 1554). The term is negotiated.
How do mining concessions affect a solar or wind site?
A mining concession is a right separate from ownership of the land. Once granted, it can burden the parcel with easements for occupation and transit, subject to compensation (Mining Code, arts. 2, 120 and 122). We check Sernageomin’s cadastre for every candidate parcel and agree with your Chilean counsel or ours how to handle each overlap before you sign.
What if a power line already crosses the parcel?
The layout works around it. Recorded easements appear on the parcel’s encumbrance certificate from the Conservador de Bienes Raíces, and the owner of land under a line may not plant, build or carry out other works that would disturb the easement (LGSE, art. 57). We map existing lines and access easements during title review, before your engineers fix the layout.
Can a solar or wind lease allow battery storage later?
Yes, if the lease provides for it from the start: the right to install storage, the area it may use and its rent. Otherwise every owner has to agree to an amendment later, one by one. A battery yard also raises its own land-use and environmental questions, which we cover on our page on land for battery storage (BESS).
Related insights
- How to secure land for a solar, wind or BESS project in Chile
Private or state land, the instruments that hold a site, and the risks to screen early.
- Title due diligence in Chile for energy projects
The Conservador registers, the certificates to order and how far back the chain of title goes.
Send us your target area and capacity
Solar, wind or hybrid, the MW, the region or substations you are looking at, and your target COD.
We sign a non-disclosure agreement before we receive any documents.