Chile's renewable energy sector is increasingly pairing large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) with new generation capacity as developers seek to make greater use of solar output and improve grid flexibility.

The trend was highlighted this month after Spanish renewable energy company Grenergy commissioned the largest battery storage facility in the Americas and Spanish renewable energy company Acciona Energía announced plans for a major new storage project in northern Chile.

Grenergy’s Elena facility, located in the Antofagasta region, has entered operation with 3.5GWh of storage capacity. The company plans to expand the project to 7GWh by 2028.

Elena forms part of Grenergy’s Oasis de Atacama development, a large-scale solar and storage platform in northern Chile. The project is expected to combine 2.5GW of solar generation with 14.1GWh of storage capacity once fully completed.

The scale of the project reflects the increasingly prominent role storage is playing in renewable energy development. Battery systems allow electricity generated during periods of strong solar output to be stored and used later, helping developers make greater use of renewable generation and deliver power beyond daylight hours.

Grenergy said Oasis de Atacama is designed to provide greater flexibility to the electricity system while supporting the integration of additional renewable capacity. According to the company, Elena includes 624 battery containers and 6,240 battery units.

The company has also linked the development to wider industrial and economic activity in northern Chile, stating that large-scale storage could support industrial electrification, mining decarbonisation, electric mobility and future data centre investment.

The project is backed by substantial investment. In September 2025, Grenergy secured $270mn in senior non-recourse financing for Phase 6 of Oasis de Atacama, known as Elena. The batteries are being supplied by Chinese battery manufacturer BYD Energy Storage.

Acciona Energía is pursuing a similar strategy. The company said it will build a 196MW/980MWh battery storage facility linked to its El Romero solar plant in the Atacama Desert, with commercial operations expected by the end of 2027.

The project will double Acciona Energía’s planned storage capacity in Chile to around 2GWh. It follows a separate 1GWh storage project currently under development at the company’s Malgarida solar complex.

Acciona Energía said the additional storage capacity would help optimise renewable energy management, improve grid stability and strengthen security of supply.

Renewable generation projects continue to advance alongside storage deployment. Renewable energy developer Mainstream Renewable Power recently announced that its 109.2MW Ckhúri wind farm in the Antofagasta region had reached commercial operation. The project comprises 26 turbines and is expected to generate enough electricity to supply around 166,000 homes.

Mainstream said the wind farm would provide electricity particularly during evening and night-time periods when solar generation falls. The project forms part of the company’s wider Huemul Energía platform, which contributes to more than 1.2GW of renewable energy capacity developed by Mainstream in Chile.

The announcements suggest Chile’s renewable energy market is evolving beyond a focus on generation capacity alone. Developers are increasingly combining solar and wind projects with storage infrastructure designed to shift electricity to periods of higher demand and make more efficient use of renewable output.

The scale of the latest projects also demonstrates how quickly battery storage is moving beyond smaller grid-support applications. Elena is already operating at 3.5GWh and is expected to double in size by 2028, while Acciona Energía’s Chilean storage portfolio is set to reach around 2GWh once its announced projects are completed. Storage is becoming a core part of how developers plan, finance and operate renewable energy projects in Chile.

In May, the Chilean government reportedly published a plan to move to a 100% renewable-powered electricity grid by 2030. While two-thirds of the grid is already powered by renewables, grid constraints have reportedly held back further increases. The government plans market reforms and transmission upgrades.