AES Andes, a subsidiary of US multinational AES Corporation, has completed the largest battery storage project in Latin America with an output of 112MW.
Located in the northern region of Antofagasta – in the desert of Atacama – in Chile, the project incorporated five-hour duration lithium batteries for an energy storage capacity of 560MWh and has been co-located with 180MW of solar PV capacity.
The company started construction of the project in October 2020 and then stated that the battery used for it would be provided by Fluence, the energy storage technology provider which counts AES Corporation and engineering solutions company Siemens among its main shareholders.
Moreover, AES Andes expects to complete another solar-plus-storage project, Andes Solar IV, which will also be located in the region of Antofagasta and is targeted to be completed next year as it is currently 80% completed, according to the company. Once completed, it will have a 147MW output lithium-ion battery storage system with 5-hour duration (735MWh) and 238MW of solar PV capacity.
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Javier Dib, CEO of AES Andes, said about the use of batteries in the project that it “represents a great contribution and solution to alleviate congestion problems in transmission lines and the resulting discharge of renewable energy, for which we will continue to grow with new projects of this type that we already have in execution”.
Earlier this year the local subsidiary of AES submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a hybrid renewables plant in the northern Chilean region of Antofagasta, with more than 3GWh of BESS capacity.
Chile’s booming energy storage activity
The Atacama desert is known for being one of the regions with the highest irradiation levels worldwide and home to many of Chile’s solar projects, as covered by our sister site PV Tech. However, since Chile passed a major energy storage bill last October, the Chilean government seeks to add multi-gigawatt of large-scale storage for 2026-208 with an investment of up to US$2 billion.
AES Andes is among several companies in the country with storage projects either operational or under construction since the bill was passed. Among others renewables company Enel Green Power started work on a wind farm that will be co-located with a 34MW battery energy storage system (BESS), utility Colbún inaugurated the first of an 800MW energy storage projects located in Atacama and with a 32MWh capacity and developers Fotowatio Renewable Ventures and oEnergy have moved forward with EIA for two PV co-located battery storage projects located in the Atacama desert, one of which is an eight-hour lithium-ion system.
Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 2nd annual Energy Storage Summit Latin America in Santiago, Chile, 17-18 October 2023. This year’s events bring together Latin America’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, network operators, EPCs and more all in one place to discuss the landscape of energy storage in the region. Visit the official site for more info.
