The first two phases of Latin America’s ‘largest’ solar-plus-storage project, Oasis de Atacama, have been commissioned in Antofagasta, Chile.
Announced by ContourGlobal, a subsidiary of investment firm KKR, the first two phases consist of 221MW of solar PV and 1.2GWh of battery energy storage system (BESS) with a 6.2-hour duration.
Built in Chile, Latin America’s ‘largest’ solar-plus-storage project consists of seven phases, with the first three – Quillagua 1, Quillagua 2 and Víctor Jara – acquired at the end of last year by ContourGlobal from Spanish independent power producer (IPP) Grenergy, which still owns the remaining phases of the Oasis de Atacama project.
“We are proud to begin operations at Quillagua months ahead of schedule, bringing the sun’s energy at night, and to share this moment with our partners, the community, and local institutions and authorities”, stated Antonio Cammisecra, Global CEO of ContourGlobal.
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The remaining third phase owned by ContourGlobal – which consists of 231MW of solar PV and 1.3GWh of BESS – is expected to be commissioned in the second half of the year and, similar to the other two, is several months ahead of the initial plan, according to the company.
At the beginning of the year, Grenergy raised US$324 million in financing for the fourth phase of the Oasis de Atacama project, which consists of 269MW of solar generation capacity and 1.1GWh of BESS and is expected to be operational in 2026.
Once fully operational, the whole Oasis de Atacama project will comprise 2GW of solar PV and 11GWh of BESS.
Moreover, Wood Mackenzie recently highlighted the growth of solar-plus-storage projects in Brazil and Chile, due to increased curtailment and transmission issues in these countries.
Atlas Renewable Energy signs PPA for 920MWh BESS project
In related Chilean news, independent power producer (IPP) Atlas Renewable Energy has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with Chilean utility Colbun for a standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) in Chile.
Located in the northern region of Antofagasta – where most of the solar PV capacity is installed in Chile – the BESS project will have 230MW/920MWh of capacity with a four-hour duration.
The company expects the project to enter commercial operation in 2027.
“This contract represents another important step forward for battery storage in the region,” said Carlos Barrera, co-founder and CEO of Atlas Renewable Energy.
Co-locating BESS in Chile an ‘absolute necessity’
The co-location of BESS with solar PV in Chile, both for operational projects and future developments is seen as an “absolute necessity”, explained recently by Alejandro McDonough, business development manager of Americas area sales at Wärtsilä Energy Storage and Optimisation (Wärtsilä ES&O) to Energy-storage-news, which recently looked at the BESS market in Chile.
Moreover, during the last Energy Storage Summit Latin America event in October 2024, the technology was highlighted as playing an important role in reducing Chile’s increasing curtailment issues. In 2024, a record high of 6TWh of solar PV and wind capacity was curtailed, more than doubling the numbers for the prior year.
However, some uncertainties, especially on the financial side, still need to be solved for BESS to fully soar in Chile and the broader region, with many countries lacking regulation and policy for BESS to grow in Latin America and in the Caribbean.
