The largest solar battery energy storage project in Latin America begins operations

In a historic milestone, AES Andes began commercial operations of Andes Solar llb, a 180MW solar/112MW battery storage system – the largest in Latin America -- earlier this week.

Located in the middle of the Atacama Desert, Chile, Andes Solar IIB boasts a capacity of 112MW for 5-hours of energy based on lithium-ion batteries. The solar battery energy storage system will allow solar energy to be stored during the day and injected into the system at night during peak demand hours alleviating transmission congestion in the national electricity system.

"Together with our employees and communities, we continue to bring innovative solutions to the market to accelerate the responsible transformation of Chile's electricity system. With Andes Solar IIB, we have reached a total of 50% of our installed capacity based on renewable technologies," said Javier Dib, CEO of AES Andes.

The Andes Solar IIb battery bank represents a great contribution and a solution to mitigate the problems of congestion in the transmission lines and the subsequent curtailment of renewable energy, which is why we will continue to grow with new projects of this type that we already have in execution. In this way, we want to contribute to a more efficient system and to the use of resources that allow us to reduce emissions in the generation of electricity, Dib added.

With the commissioning of Andes Solar llb, AES Andes will be operating 429MW of solar power in the Antofagasta region. By next year, Andes Solar IV will be added, with that the company would have 238 MW of photovoltaic power and 147 MW of batteries with a 5-hour storage capacity, a project that is currently more than 80% complete, the company stated.

Earlier in June, the company has announced acquisition of the Bolero Solar Park (146 MW), located near the town of Sierra Gorda in the Atacama Desert where it plans to install a new battery storage system to improve the efficiency of the system and take advantage of solar energy by reducing its dumping margin.

AES Andes is one of the leading power generators in South America. In Chile, AES Andes and its subsidiaries own and operate 3,865 MW of generation capacity, which includes 348 MW of wind, 429 MW of solar, 13 MW of biomass and 174 MW of battery storage, as well as desalination plants and transmission lines.