Chile's Colbun cuts ribbon at 230-MW solar farm with BESS in Atacama

Chilean utility Colbun SA on Monday inaugurated its 230-MW Diego de Almagro Sur solar farm with an 8-MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in Chile’s Atacama region, and said that it going to add the storage component to most of its renewable energy projects in the future.

Following an investment of USD 150 million (EUR 144.5m), Diego de Almagro Sur now stands as a 330-hectare (815.4 acres) solar farm featuring some 470,000 panels. The estimate is that the plant will be capable of generating around 648 GWh on average per year.

The BESS is made up of 24 batteries with a capacity to store electricity for four hours.

The facilities are located around 27 kilometres (16.8 miles) from the town of Diego de Almagro. According to Colbun, its solar farm is currently the largest one in commercial operation in the Atacama region.

The Diego de Almagro Sur scheme has the distinction of being Colbun’s first industrial-scale storage project. The company said that the storage technology is one of the pillars of its 2030 strategic agenda, and will be included in most of its renewables going forward.

At present, Colbun is preparing to develop over 800 MW of storage projects, it said. Among them is Celda Solar, a project that is currently being evaluated for environmental impact. Celda Solar is designed to co-locate a 421-MW solar farm and a 240-MW BESS.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.964)

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