Chile is leading Latin America’s wave of energy storage adoption, closely linked to its embrace of solar PV, as these recent stories from our colleagues at PV Tech attest.
Fourth phase of 11GWh Oasis de Atacama project sold
Spanish independent power producer (IPP) Grenergy has sold the fourth phase of its flagship solar-plus-storage project in Chile, Oasis de Atacama.
Infrastructure investor CVC DIF, a subsidiary of asset manager CVC, acquired the project for up to US$475 million. As part of the agreement, the Spanish IPP will provide operations and maintenance services for five years.
Dubbed Gabriela, this phase represents one-tenth of the entire Oasis de Atacama project—2GW of solar PV and 11GWh of BESS—with 272MW of solar PV and 1.1GWh of battery energy storage system (BESS). As the name of the project indicates, it is located in the solar hotbed of the Atacama Desert, in northern Chile.
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Currently under construction, the commercial operation date for the fourth phase is expected in the first half of 2026.
Financing for Gabriela was secured at the beginning of the year with international financial banks BNP Paribas, Natixis, Société Générale, the Bank of Nova Scotia and SMBC. In January, Grenergy secured US$324 million in green financing for Gabriela’s construction, as covered by Energy-Storage.news.
In total, Grenergy has now sold one-third of the Oasis de Atacama project and retains 1.2GW of solar PV and 7.3GWh of BESS. Late last year, the company sold the first three phases of the project—which combine 451MW of solar PV and 2.5GWh of BESS—to ContourGlobal, a subsidiary of investment firm KKR.
The first two phases of the project were commissioned in April 2025, while the third phase is expected to be operational in the second half of this year.
By Jonathan Touriño Jacobo
Read the full version of this story at PV Tech.
AES Andes hires GES to build solar-wind-storage hybrid
Spanish construction firm GES (Global Energy Services) has secured a contract to build a roughly 700MW solar-wind-storage hybrid project in Chile.
The company said the project, located in the Antofagasta region of Chile, is the largest in its history, comprising a cumulative 695MW of solar PV, wind power and energy storage capacity. The project is expected to come online in 2027.
Sources familiar with the operation told PV Tech that the site is being developed and owned by AES Andes, the Chilean electricity utility. Last month, AES Andes announced 1.3GW of co-located renewable energy projects in Chile, including the Pampas project, a solar-wind-storage hybrid site in Antofagasta featuring 229MW of solar PV, 128MW of wind capacity and a 171MW 5-hour duration battery energy storage system (BESS).
GES said the expansion in Chile supports its strategy to spread into international markets. It has already built over 1,178 MW of wind and solar PV projects in Chile. It also marks its plan to move away from standalone solar and wind projects and operate with a “strong commitment to energy storage.”
José Luis García Donoso, CEO of GES, added: “The combination of three renewable technologies in a single facility sets the short-term direction for the sector. Furthermore, it will be the facility with the largest storage capacity in Latin America to date.”
By Will Norman
To read the full version of this story, visit PV Tech.
Verano closes US$204 million financing on under-construction solar-plus-storage project
Independent power producer (IPP) Verano Energy has closed a US$204 million financing for a 83MW/660MWh solar-plus-storage project in Chile.
Located in the northern region of Atacama, the Domeyko Solar + Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project is currently under construction.
The project is expected to begin its commercial operation by the end of 2026. The capacity generated by the project will be provided to Chilean gas provider Abastible, under a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA).
The Domeyko project will require a total capital expenditure of US$247 million, which will be financed through a US$176 million finance term loan provided by a consortium of international banks that includes SMBC, Société Générale and Scotiabank. The latter will also provide US$12 million in VAT debt financing, while equity will be provided by Lumina Capital Management, a global investment fund specialising in sustainable infrastructure.
Dylan Rudney, CEO of Verano Energy, said: “In just over a decade, we have evolved from a solar developer into a fully integrated independent power producer with projects across Chile, Colombia, Argentina and Peru.”
By Jonathan Touriño Jacobo
To read the full version of this story, visit PV Tech.
Our publisher, Solar Media, will host the fourth annual Energy Storage Summit Latin America in Santiago, Chile, 14-15 October. Visit the event site for more details including agenda and how to get tickets.
