The Regional Government of Arica and Parinacota awarded the University of Chile—acting on behalf of the Solar Energy Research Center (SERC Chile)—the contract to establish the Ayllu Solar Regional Innovation Center for the 2025–2027 period. The initiative aims to serve as a center that addresses and promotes innovation, technology transfer, human capital development, and productivity across various sectors through solar energy-based solutions. It will be headquartered in the city of Arica and will serve all four municipalities in the region.

SERC Chile has been active in Arica and Parinacota since 2015 through the Ayllu Solar project, which was implemented in all four municipalities

Through the Regional Fund for Productivity and Development (FRPD 2025), the Regional Government of Arica and Parinacota awarded the University of Chile—acting on behalf of the Solar Energy Research Center (SERC Chile)—the initiative titled “Ayllu Solar Regional Innovation Center: Solar Energy for Productive Development (CE-Ayllu Solar),” aimed at strengthening the region’s solar ecosystem through applied research, capacity building, and productive partnerships.

The project will have an implementation period of 24 months (2025–2027). It was conceived as a strategic and geographically relevant proposal that will, in turn, provide continuity, further development, and scaling of the experience gained through the Ayllu Solar project, a SERC Chile initiative carried out in the region between 2015 and 2021. The goal is to ensure institutional continuity and academic capacity to scale up results and promote new opportunities for productive development based on solar energy.

Rodrigo Palma, director of SERC Chile, praised the awarding of this initiative. “SERC Chile, in its commitment to maintaining and developing projects in northern Chile to promote solar energy, is creating through this project a space for training and incubating new energy projects for the region, in line with the 2017–2030 Development Strategy for Arica and Parinacota. “We want to highlight the technological innovation and research taking place in the country, as applied to the local context, and make this space available to the entire region through technology transfer.”

From this perspective, CE–AYLLU SOLAR seeks to establish itself as a stable institutional framework, led by the University of Chile as the implementing entity—representing SERC Chile—which acts as a technical and social coordinator in the region, in collaboration with public and local institutions in Arica and Parinacota. It is envisioned as a unique and strategic solution that provides a stable operational infrastructure with a productive focus and addresses the needs and gaps identified by society and the regional productive ecosystem.

This photo was taken in the municipality of General Lagos, where Ayllu Solar carried out an initiative with the Altiplano Cattle Ranchers Association.

The initiative aims to directly benefit approximately 3,000 people in the region through activities in all four municipalities, involving producers, entrepreneurs, technicians, students, and representatives of local communities in the use, operation, and maintenance of solar technologies.

For her part, Alexia Vásquez, the Regional Minister for Science, Technology, Knowledge, and Innovation (CTCi), highlighted the importance of promoting renewable energy through innovation initiatives in the region and SERC Chile’s interest in continuing to maintain a presence in Arica.

“It is excellent news for Arica and Parinacota to have a state-of-the-art solar energy center that capitalizes on the region’s comparative advantages with a view to developing advanced human capital and solutions that contribute to regional development. Furthermore, we hope that the efforts of the University of Chile will help build partnerships with regional institutions, training professionals in this field,” said the official.

Ayllu Solar worked on the four eco-friendly buildings in the region.

With this award, the Arica and Parinacota Region reaffirms its strategic role in the national energy transition, establishing itself as a hub for innovation and development. Ultimately, CE-AYLLU SOLAR is poised to be a transformative initiative by harnessing the region’s extraordinary solar potential.