BESS to help Chile reduce its soaring renewable curtailment

By Jonathan Touriño Jacobo, Cameron Murray
LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
Chile
ACERA’s Ana Lia Rojas opening the two-day event. Image: Solar Media.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) will play an important role in reducing curtailment issues Chile has been facing in 2024, keynote speakers said at the third edition of Solar Media’s Energy Storage Summit Latin America 2024 today.

The two-day event kicked off today (15 October) in Santiago, Chile, bringing together energy storage technology suppliers, policymakers, advisors, developers and operators active in the burgeoning Chilean market and more broadly across Latin America.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Keynote speaker and event chair Ana Lía Rojas, executive director at the Chilean renewable energy and energy storage association (ACERA), explained how as of September 2024, Chile has had nearly 3.5TWh of renewable energy curtailed since the start of the year. This represents a whole month of renewable energy production, according to Rojas.

Estimates for the whole year of 2024, taking into account numbers from the previous year, suggest Chile could end up with 4.5TWh of curtailed renewable energy by year’s end. As curtailment of solar PV and other renewable energy increases, BESS will play an important role in reducing the numbers while also helping in the decarbonisation of electricity during nighttime.

The growth of BESS is accelerating fast with Chilean Energy Minister, Diego Pardow Lorenzo, highlighting nearly 500MW of output operational or going under testing currently in Chile. The Chilean Minister of Energy said that the country expects this to double by the end of the year with 1GW of BESS output operational or under testing. Eight projects are under construction for next year that will add 650MW of output.

Diego Pardow Lorenzo, Chile’s Minister of Energy. Image: Solar Media.

One of the most pressing challenges according to Pardow Lorenzo are the ever growing systemic costs which need to be reduced and are “an obstacle to move forward” in Chile.

Pardow Lorenzo also mentioned the importance of long duration energy systems (LDES) in the long-term, which will be just as important as short-duration energy storage.

The Chilean government recently finalised regulations around payments to energy storage in the country’s capacity market, further helping pave the way for large-scale deployments.

In May, the Ministry of Energy opened a public land bidding auction for land capable of hosting 13GWh of BESS projects.

A large-scale market was made possible in late 2022 when the government enabled the operation of standalone energy storage in the electricity market. Until the only projects that had been progressed were co-located with solar PV and focused on reducing curtailment.

Click here for all energy storage news from Chile, including recent projects from CIPEngie, Canadian Solar and Grenergy.

Energy Storage Summit Latin America will not only focus on Chile however, with grid-scale projects coming online in other parts of the region too. Just today Energy-Storage.news reported on a co-located 2MWh BESS set to be come online imminently in Colombia, claimed as the first such project in the country.

14 October 2025
InterContinental, Santiago, Chile
We are excited to bring the industry together for the fourth edition of the Energy Storage Summit Latin America on 14-15 October in Santiago, Chile. The Summit has become a meeting place for IPPs and developers, investors, financiers and banks, utilities, consultancies, software providers, and manufacturers who are setting high standards in the Latin American energy storage sector.
11 November 2025
San Diego, USA
The 2024 Summit included innovative new features including a ‘Crash Course in Battery Asset Management’, Ask-Me-Anything formats and debate-style sessions. You can expect to meet and network with all the key industry players again in 2025 from major US asset owners, operators, RTOs and ISOs, optimizers, software and analytics providers, technical consultancies, O&M technology providers and more.
24 February 2026
InterContinental London - The O2, London, UK
This isn’t just another summit – it’s our biggest and most exhilarating Summit yet! Picture this: immersive workshop spaces where ideas come to life, dedicated industry working groups igniting innovation, live podcasts sparking lively discussions, hard-hitting keynotes that will leave you inspired, and an abundance of networking opportunities that will take your connections to new heights!

Read Next

Premium
June 19, 2025
We caught up with the CEO of Bulgaria-based International Power Supply (IPS) to discuss its claimed first mass-scale cell-to-system BESS manufacturing facility in Europe and its ultra-high density 20-foot product.
June 18, 2025
Home battery systems company Haven Energy and California utility Clean Energy Alliance (CEA)  have partnered to provide homeowners in the state with battery energy storage systems (BESS) at no purchase or installation cost.
Premium
June 17, 2025
Q2 2025 saw the sharpest jump in battery energy storage system (BESS) prices since 2021, according to procurement platform Anza Renewables’ Q2 US energy storage pricing insights report.
June 17, 2025
Huawei Digital Power has successfully commissioned what it claims is Cambodia’s first grid-forming battery energy storage system (BESS) certified by TÜV SÜD.
June 17, 2025
Aslan Energy Capital will develop a 40MW data centre with a 120MWh BESS in a deal with Indonesia’s Jakarta Industrial Estate Pulogadung.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter