Renewable energy developer and operator Innergex has inaugurated a 50MW/250MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at a solar PV plant in Chile.
The inauguration ceremony for the project, which adjoins the existing Salvador 68MW solar PV Plant Innergex acquired in 2020, in the northern Atacama desert region was also attended by Chile energy minister Diego Pardow.
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“The inauguration of this project is aligned with the challenges we aim to address as a government. It allows us to complement the generation of renewable energy and its storage so that the energy we generate thanks to the sun can be used flexibly during times of greatest demand,” said minister Pardow.
The BESS unit was provided by Mitsubishi Power Americas, one of two ordered by Innergex with the other totalling 35MW/175MWh being deployed at another PV plant, the 50MW Andres PV facility.
Solar curtailment is a significant issue in the Chilean energy market which has led to swathes of existing projects adding BESS technology to shift the energy into the later hours of the day. Over 2GWh of co-located projects were proposed in September alone, by companies including EDF, Engie and Sonnedix.
Alongside that, standalone BESS projects are being deployed to provide capacity market services and energy trading, made possible after a new law was passed last year giving the technology its own classification in the energy market. Energy-Storage.news explored this in more detail with developer Flexen in an interview in September (Premium access).
Returning for the second edition in Santiago, Chile, the Energy Storage Summit Latin America took place this week to explore opportunities in countries such as Chile, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Taking place on October 17-18, the event brought together investors, policy makers, developers, utilities, network operators, technology providers, EPCs, consultants, law firms and more.