Bolivia in push to become global battery industrial hotspot

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
Bolivia’s lithium reserves are centred around the salt flats scattered between the southwest cities of Uyuni, Potosí and Oruro. Image credit: Damien Ramos / Flickr

Bolivia will try and capitalise on its large lithium reserves to set up an industrial ecosystem around batteries and other storage technologies, according to a top government official.

The country’s vice president Alvaro García Linera described the government’s plans for a “lithium industrialisation” drive as he attended the opening of a PV project in Oruro, in Bolivia’s west.

“Oruro won’t just produce mineral and power but also lithium, lithium hydroxide, cathodes and lithium batteries,” García said as he toured the 50MW first batch of a 100MW PV complex.

Bolivia is not alone in trying to seize the window created by tremendous global appetite for lithium, with World Bank predicting demand will balloon by 1,000-1,200% by 2050.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

Not ready to commit yet?
  • 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

Together with Argentina and Chile, the country lies at the heart of Latin America’s so-called lithium triangle, thought to host over half of worldwide reserves of the coveted commodity.

Bolivia’s lithium industrialisation ambitions have been apparent in the global sphere of late, with president Evo Morales taking it upon himself to spearhead the cause.

Visiting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow in July, Morales rubberstamped an agreement for both countries to cooperate around the lithium development agenda.

The Latin American state has already acted to partner foreign firms to develop its lithium ecosystem, centred around the salt flats scattered between the southwest cities of Uyuni, Potosí and Oruro.

Last December, Bolivia sealed a joint venture with Germany’s ACI Systems to roll out four industrial plants – including a plant to manufacture lithium-ion batteries – near the Uyuni salt flat.

In February this year, a similar partnership was struck with China’s Xinjiang TBEA Group-Baocheng to deploy lithium-related industrial facilities in Oruro and Potosí.

The prospects and challenges of Latin American storage and solar will take centre stage at Solar Media’s Energy Storage Latin America, to be held in Colombia on 28-29 April 2020.

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.

Read Next

September 11, 2025
Hithium has announced its lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) for supporting data centres, while Storion Energy has secured its first vanadium electrolyte customer.
September 11, 2025
Grenergy has secured a senior non-recourse financing agreement worth US$270 million for Phase 6 of its flagship Chilean solar-plus-storage project, Oasis de Atacama.
September 9, 2025
Tesla announced its new integrated 20MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) solution, the Tesla Megablock, on 8 September in Las Vegas, US.
September 9, 2025
“Social licensing is the next frontier for battery energy storage systems,” said Matt Baumgurtel, partner, new energy lead at Hamilton Locke.
Premium
September 9, 2025
Andrés Barberán, energy storage product manager at Fluence, emphasises that optimising battery energy storage system (BESS) performance means making decisions with the entire asset lifecycle in mind, not just immediate returns.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter