Spotlight: Chile's energy storage pipeline as renewables advance

Chile is focusing on expanding its energy storage capacity over the next decade to support a grid increasingly reliant on variable renewable energy sources.

The energy ministry ratified its commitment as part of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, where Chile is leaning on its recently publicized preliminary long-term energy strategy, which includes commitments to achieve an 80% renewable grid by 2030, slash energy-sector greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2050 and establish a new carbon tax.

“The incorporation of more and more renewable energy, such as wind and solar, imposes on us the enormous challenge of stabilizing our system,” said energy minister Juan Carlos Jobet at the conference. “A 13-year drought has also hurt the ability of our hydroelectric capacity” to serve as backup for the national system, he added.

That deficit is expected to be made up with rapid growth in battery storage capacity.

Energy storage systems can help alleviate transmission bottlenecks affecting renewable power, as well as contributing to variable renewable projects by improving the management of power injections into the grid.

At the conference in Scotland, power generator AES Andes unveiled plans to more than double its storage capacity in Chile over the next two years.

AES Andes made headlines a few years ago with plans to add 112MW of battery storage capacity to its Los Andes Solar project in northern Chile. To this the firm now said it has added plans for an additional 188MW in several projects by 2023 for a total investment of US$400mn.

This would bring the country’s injection capacity from storage projects to 1,563MWh by that year. The energy ministry has said Chile needs to add 2,000MW of energy storage capacity every 10 years between now and 2050, including battery storage to meet the demands of a renewable-reliant electricity grid.

The Chilean government also said it is exploring the possibility of bringing its goal to retire the whole coal generation park forward by 10 years.

That would mean full retirement of coal capacity in the national grid by 2030 instead of 2040, as part of a bid to clean up the grid as a step towards a full clean energy transition.

The BNamericas database shows there are already 36 large-scale projects in Chile with an energy storage component in some stage of development, out of 129 in all Latin America. In terms of early works projects, Chile has almost half, 32 out of 71 in the region.

Storage only

While most storage projects involve the addition of a storage component to a generation or transmission initiative, there are some which are exclusively focused on storage. This is the case of two compressed air storage projects presented by Canadian storage solutions provider Hydrostor and local generation company AME: the US$662mn Transición and US$505mn Innovación initiatives in northern Tarapacá region.

These facilities would have storage capacity of 350MW and 250MW, respectively. However, in order to be carried out they would have to be included by energy commission CNE in the country’s transmission expansion plans, something that is under evaluation.

Another notable storage-only project is the US$150mn Ensicom cryogenic energy storage (CES) project. The initiative is being developed by Highview Enlasa, a JV between Britain’s Highview Power and Chilean energy firm Energía Latina (Enlasa), and would be located in the northern Atacama region.

The project would be able to store up to 50MW for 10 hours by using liquid air at -196° C, which when heated up can power a turbine. If completed, it would be the first project of its kind in Latin America. It is currently undergoing environmental permitting.

Another initiative was recently proposed for Chile’s transmission expansion plan by Espejo de Tarapacá, developer of the US$1bn Espejo de Tarapacá pump-storage hydroelectric project, which was conceived in 2014 but is yet to start construction due to financing constraints.

The new project, called Blue, involves the construction of a US$660mn substation and a series of transmission lines in central Chile with a 300MW injection or withdrawal capacity and the ability to store energy for up to 13 hours. Its objective is to add flexibility and optimize the use of the country’s highly congested north-center transmission lines.

Storage plus renewables

In terms of projects that incorporate a battery storage component in renewable generation assets, the largest so far is a US$500mn  one proposed by Norway’s Statkraft after being granted a public land concession by the ministry of national assets.

According to the firm, the project would involve building a 400MW wind farm in northern Antofagasta region. The project will have a battery storage component of unspecified capacity and is still in early stages.

The US$496mn Pauna solar project, also owned by Statkraft in conjunction with Solarcentury and which is currently being assessed by the environmental evaluation service, also incorporates a lithium-ion battery storage component with 2,684MWh of capacity, or the park’s 671MW output for up to four hours.

Another significant project is the US$340mn Amolanas hybrid renewable park in Coquimbo region being developed by Pacific Hydro. In addition to a 117MW wind farm and an 82.1MW solar park, the project includes 110MW of battery storage capacity.