Utility and independent power producer (IPP) Celestia has deployed a solar co-located lithium iron phosphate (LFP) BESS in Colombia.
Celsia has deployed the battery energy storage system (BESS) at its 9.9MW Celsia Solar Palmira 2 farm in Valle del Cauca to help increase the generation capacity of the plant, shifting generation into the evening hours. The power could go to the end user of the solar plant or to the National Interconnected System (SIN).
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The AC-coupled BESS comprises a 20-foot shipping container unit with 120 battery packs totalling 2MWh of energy storage capacity with a power rating of 1MW. The LFP cells inside have a 15-20 year lifetime.
The BESS, pictured above, has been deployed and will enter commercial operations in the next few weeks, Celsia said. The firm claimed it is the first solar and BESS combination in Colombia.
Alongside solar time shifting, the company said that BESS can provide backup power and offer complementary services to the network around maintaining frequency and voltage, although didn’t specify that this BESS would be doing those.
The news comes as Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media kicks off the third annual Energy Storage Summit Latin America in Santiago, Chile, running today and tomorrow (15-16 October 2024).
Most large-scale energy storage news in the region has come from Chile, where gigawatts of projects are coming online in the next few years, with major projects from CIP, Engie, Canadian Solar and Grenergy progressing projects totalling around 5GWh in the last month alone.
Most large-scale news in Colombia to-date has been driven by the government, including plans to convert a 290MW coal plant to solar and BESS and a tender in 2021 for a 45MWh project won by Canadian Solar.
Today sees Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media kick off the 3rd annual Energy Storage Summit Latin America in Santiago, Chile, 15-16 October 2024. This year’s events bring together Latin America’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, network operators, EPCs and more all in one place to discuss the landscape of energy storage in the region. Visit the official site for more info.
