Independent power producer (IPP) Grenergy has signed a 1TWh night-time power purchase agreement (PPA) for its 3.5GWh Elena BESS project in Chile.
Announced 30 June, the PPA provides for the supply of 1TWh annually over a 15-year period for the battery energy storage system (BESS) project and is scheduled to begin between July and October of this year.
The Elena BESS currently has a 3.5GWh capacity but there are plans to expand the project to 7GWh.
Elena is part of Grenergy’s Oasis de Atacama complex, which co-locates BESS and solar PV generation at multi-gigawatt and multi-gigawatt-hour scale.
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The PPA coincides with the recent inauguration of the project, which is located in the Antofagasta region of Chile. A ceremony was led by President of Chile, José Antonio Kast Rist, and attended by national and regional authorities, including Minister of Energy Ximena Rincón and Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation Ximena Lincolao.
At that time, Grenergy stated the platform would ultimately include 2.1GW of solar capacity paired with 14GWh of battery storage, enabling stored renewable energy to be dispatched over extended periods and enhancing grid flexibility.
Notably, Grenergy claimed the PPA as the largest in terms of volume it has signed to date, and Elena as the largest battery plant in the Americas. The project is made up of 624 battery containers and 6,240 battery units.
The 3.5GWh capacity is larger than the BESS portion of the 2024 Edwards & Sanborn solar-plus-storage project in California, which features 3,287MWh of BESS capacity.
In May, IPP ContourGlobal put the Victor Jara project in Tarapacá, Chile into commercial operation, the project combines 231MW of solar PV with a 200MW/1.3GWh BESS. It was acquired from Grenergy, with two other projects, Quillagua 1 and Quillagua 2, which made up the first three phases of the Oasis de Atacama complex.
Our publisher Solar Media, part of Informa Connect, will host the Energy Storage Summit Latin America 2026 on 27-28 October, 2026, in Santiago Chile. Use our discount code ESN20 for 20% off tickets.
