---
title: "Glossary of Chile's power market | EnergySage"
description: "What SEN, Coordinator, marginal cost, bus, decoupling, capacity payment, ancillary services, PMGD, BESS, OIV and other terms of Chile's power market mean."
url: https://energysage.cl/en/glosario/
lang: en
last_updated: 2026-10-05
---

# Glossary of Chile's power market

The terms we use in our analysis and in our work with clients.

- **SEN (National Electric System)**: Chile's interconnected power system, from Arica to Chiloé. It brings together the generation, transmission and demand that operate in a coordinated way.
- **National Electric Coordinator (CEN)**: The independent technical body that coordinates the operation of the SEN: it schedules dispatch, oversees system security and administers the economic transfers between companies.
- **CNE (National Energy Commission)**: The technical body that sets tariffs, drafts the sector's technical standards and runs supply tenders for regulated customers.
- **SEC (Superintendence of Electricity and Fuels)**: The authority that enforces compliance with electricity and fuel regulations.
- **Marginal cost**: The cost of supplying one additional MWh at a given bus at a given time. It is the price reference for energy transfers between generators in the short-term market.
- **Bus**: A point in the grid, usually a substation, where the marginal cost is calculated and energy injections and withdrawals are valued.
- **Decoupling and congestion**: When transmission limits prevent all available energy from flowing, marginal costs in different zones separate. That gap affects generators' revenues and consumers' costs.
- **Capacity (sufficiency) payment**: The payment that recognizes each plant's contribution to securely meeting peak demand.
- **Ancillary services**: Services that allow the system to operate securely and with quality, such as frequency and voltage control or reserves. The Coordinator defines and allocates them.
- **PMGD (small distributed generation)**: Plants of up to 9 MW connected to distribution networks, with their own pricing and connection regime.
- **BESS (battery storage)**: Systems that store energy in batteries to inject it when the system needs it. Their value depends on operation, contracts and equipment performance over time.
- **Supply tender**: The public process in which the CNE awards long-term contracts to supply regulated customers.
- **PPA (power purchase agreement)**: A long-term contract between a generator and an energy buyer, with defined price, volume and delivery terms.
- **NTSyCS**: The Technical Standard for Security and Quality of Service: it sets the technical requirements under which SEN facilities must operate.
- **Control centre**: The facility from which a company supervises and operates its plants or substations in real time, and coordinates with the Coordinator.
- **ANCI (National Cybersecurity Agency)**: The authority created by Law 21,663, the Cybersecurity Framework Law, which regulates and oversees the cybersecurity of essential services.
- **OIV (Operator of Vital Importance)**: A company the ANCI classifies as critical for the country. It has stricter cybersecurity obligations, such as management systems, continuity plans and incident reporting.

## Sitemap

- [Full site map](https://energysage.cl/sitemap.md)
- [Home](https://energysage.cl/en/) · [Intelligence](https://energysage.cl/en/inteligencia/) · [Advisory](https://energysage.cl/en/consultoria-estrategica/) · [Cybersecurity](https://energysage.cl/en/ciberseguridad-energetica/) · [Market entry](https://energysage.cl/en/market-entry/) · [Analysis](https://energysage.cl/en/knowledge-hub/) · [Team](https://energysage.cl/en/equipo/) · [Contact](https://energysage.cl/en/contacto/)
- [Guide for AI agents](https://energysage.cl/llms.txt)