Canadian Solar revealed as solar-plus-storage developer with winning bid in Chile government tender

By Jonathan Tourino Jacobo
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Canadian Solar was behind the company Zapaleri that received a successful bid in Chile’s July auction with 253MWp of solar PV and 1GWh battery energy storage.

While a total of 15 companies were selected for bidding, only two companies have been successful in their bids with a total of 777GWh of power supply – for an average price of US$37.38/MWh – that amounted to just 14.8% of the 5.250GWh initially auctioned.

One of them was Zapaleri, while the other successful auction bidder was Spanish developer Fotowatio Renewable Ventures through its Chilean subsidiary.

Latin American-focused energy portal Energía Estratégica revealed that Canadian Solar was behind Zapaleri ahead of the auction last July, but the developer did not make any announcement at the time. But a recent media release revealed that Canadian Solar was, in fact, behind the bid.

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The solar-plus-storage project is currently in mid-stage development and is expected to start construction in 2024 and will be operational in 2026.

To read the full version of this story, visit PV Tech.

PV Tech will be taking a closer look at the future of solar in Chile in the upcoming edition of PV Tech Power (Number 32), which is due out in September. You can subscribe and access previous editions of the journal here.

27 October 2026
Santiago, Chile
Energy Storage Summit Latin America brings together developers, investors, utilities and policymakers to explore how storage is advancing system stability, regulation, deployment and new revenue models across the region. With insights from Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and beyond, the Summit focuses on financing, policy clarity, hybridisation, supply chain development and project optimisation as LATAM accelerates its storage buildout.

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