Chile continues to be Latin America’s hotspot for energy storage deployments, with a major new deal for Grenergy and Engie bringing a project online in the past week.
Grenergy orders BYD units for Central Oasis solar-plus-storage platform
Spain-headquartered independent power producer (IPP) Grenergy said last week (26 March) that it has ordered 2,600MWh of battery energy storage system (BESS) equipment from Chinese manufacturer BYD for its Central Oasis solar-plus-storage complex.
Grenergy has ordered 468 of BYD’s liquid-cooled MC Cube-T BESS utility-scale units, which feature the BYD Blade Battery and are available in configurations with nominal energy capacity from 5MWh to 6.4MWh.
The systems will be deployed at four of the Central Oasis platform’s five sites:
Try Premium for just $1
- Full premium access for the first month at only $1
- Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
- Cancel anytime during the trial period
Premium Benefits
- Expert industry analysis and interviews
- Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
- Exclusive event discounts
Or get the full Premium subscription right away
Or continue reading this article for free
| Site name | Solar PV capacity (MW) | BESS capacity (MWh) |
| Gran Teno | 241 | 939 |
| Planchón | 108 | 402 |
| Tamango | 49 | 168 |
| Monte Águila | 340 | 1,100 |
The first 168 units are currently being shipped from Shenzhen, China, to the Gran Teno project site, where the foundations are under construction, and are expected to arrive in mid-April.
The Central Oasis platform in central Chile is Grenergy’s second gigawatt-hour-scale solar-plus-storage project in the country, following the Oasis de Atacama platform, which, as the name suggests, is in the Chilean portion of the Atacama Desert.
The most recent, fourth phase of Oasis de Atacama was energised a couple of months ago, featuring 272MW of solar and 1.1GWh of batteries, for a project that will eventually host 2GW of solar PV and 11GWh of battery storage at six sites in the Atacama.
Meanwhile, Central Oasis comprises 1.1GW of solar PV capacity and 4GWh of battery storage, expected to become fully operational this year and next.
It follows the IPP raising US$355 million in senior non-recourse financing for three of the Central Oasis projects, totalling 398MW of solar PV and 1.4GWh of battery storage, with banks BNP Paribas, Santander and Rabobank, in February.
Central Oasis was announced last May, at which time Grenergy said it expected to invest €900 million (US$1.03 billion) in the project, replicating the solar hybrid model of the earlier Atacama Desert project. At that time, the IPP also said it would build a 200MW solar PV and 704MWh BESS hybrid in Spain.
The three projects are part of an overall €3.5 billion investment plan through which Grenergy aims to install 4.4GW of solar PV and 18.8GWh of BESS by the end of 2027.
Grenergy previously signed a 3.5GWh supply deal with BYD in May 2025 for the sixth phase of the Oasis de Atacama project.
According to BYD’s recently published Annual Report 2025, the company delivered 60GWh of battery storage systems in 2025. Chinese rival CATL, which also supplied equipment to Grenergy’s Chile projects, shipped 121GWh of energy storage batteries in 2025, although this includes cell deliveries as well as complete systems.
Engie energises Atacama region project
Another European multinational energy company with ambitions in the Chilean market, France-headquartered Engie, announced the energisation of a 46MW/230MWh BESS project in the country last week (24 March).
Engie’s BESS Los Loros project cost the company around US$64 million and is co-located with an existing 53MW solar PV plant in the Atacama Region’s Tierra Amarilla commune. The PV plant was developed by Solardirect, a French developer which Engie acquired in 2015 just ahead of the project’s commissioning in 2016.
BESS Los Loros, with 63 lithium iron phosphate (LFP) BESS units from an undisclosed supplier, is connected to the solar park’s 110/23kV substation. Engie has developed several other BESS projects in Chile to date, including one solar-plus-storage hybrid, with an average 5-hour storage duration across the portfolio. In February, it began commercial operation of BESS Tocopilla, a 116MW/660MWh system at a former thermal power plant complex.
6TWh of renewables curtailed in Chile in 2025
According to figures from the Chilean renewable energy and energy storage association ACERA, the country’s installed solar capacity as of February 2026 was around 11.8GW, alongside about 6GW of wind generation.
ACERA said 1.2GW of new solar PV was installed in the country in 2025, with nearly 30% of that co-located with battery storage. Most of the 1.5GW of battery storage installed by the end of last year was about 5-hour duration, and managing the integration of renewables is a key priority. About 6TWh of solar and wind generation was curtailed from being injected into the grid during 2025, although BESS capacity mitigated the curtailment of a further 2TWh, the trade association said.
Chile is racing to deploy more energy storage capacity and ACERA has forecast that, should the current rate of deployment continue, there will be around 9GW of BESS online by the end of next year, with an average of 4-hour duration. The country’s 2GW BESS deployment target for 2030 is therefore expected to be imminently reached, four years early.
