Opportunities seen for multiple solutions in Chile’s long-duration storage segment

As Chile’s power generation park becomes cleaner, opportunities will grow for long-term energy storage systems that can play a balancing role.

Locally, this typically means projects that have dispatch duration of more than five hours, a future market segment ripe for solutions other than lithium-ion batteries. 

Pumped storage and compressed carbon dioxide plants, as well as green ammonia, are among potential contenders in the country, which is aiming to have an emission-free generation park by 2050. Concentrated solar is also being touted as a feasible option.  

“Each technology has different attributes that can contribute with different services to the network,” Alba Martínez, energy transition director at Santiago-based energy consultancy Anabática Renovables, told BNamericas. “There’s going to be space for different types of technologies.”

A chief benefit of compressed carbon dioxide solutions is that the gas can be stored as a liquid at ambient temperatures. When electricity is needed, the carbon dioxide is warmed, reverting to high-pressure gas that is then used to spin a turbine.

In terms of non-battery projects, so far, liquid air and molten salt energy storage systems have been given the environmental green light. Elsewhere on the project map, local generator Colbún and British clean energy firm RheEnergise are exploring the possibility of deploying a high-density fluid pumped storage system. 

Martínez spoke to BNamericas on the sidelines of an energy storage seminar hosted by Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez’s energy transition research hub Centra and GPM, the country’s association of small and medium-sized power generators. 

Delegates heard, however, that greater regulatory agility was needed so that potential investors in long-duration systems do not have to wait multiple years in limbo for rules of the game. Industry experts cited, as an example, capacity rules, which took around four years to emerge and are currently being given the final check by the comptroller general’s office and should be published in 2024.

Banks have appetite to invest in long-duration storage projects and indeed have energy storage mandates but demand robust contracts in order to sign checks and this, in turn, will require greater visibility over the specific regulatory fine-print, the seminar was told.

Long-duration storage solutions will be needed, especially after 2026, to help substitute the grid-stability role played by coal-fired plants, which are gradually being retired, and support the addition of more wind and solar capacity. In terms of flexible gas-fired plants, eventual adoption of green ammonia as a fuel is being promoted as a solution within quarters of the industry.   

ENERGY STORAGE

Chile’s pipeline of energy storage projects is growing, driven by those linked to renewable energy parks. 

The country’s biggest generator by installed capacity, Enel, has until now focused on two-hour duration battery systems, suited to the ancillary services market, but is mulling longer-duration options, more suited to the energy-shifting business. 

A planned government storage auction, along with the capacity rules, should spur interest in the standalone storage segment from next year. While consensus exists in the industry over the need for storage capacity, there is disagreement over the mechanism/model. Chile’s big players highlight that the private sector is already building and financing systems under its own initiative.

In an October report, local renewables and storage chamber Acera states that 6.07GW of renewables-storage systems were in the environmental review phase. 

In November, the energy ministry and the ministry of national assets launched a plan to spur development of standalone storage systems via the direct assignation of government land. The objective is that these systems enter service in 2026, for a combined capacity of 13GWh. 

INSTALLED GENERATION CAPACITY

At end-October, installed power capacity in Chile stood at 35.3GW, according to Acera. Non-conventional renewable energy (NCRE) plants accounted for 15.4GW, thermoelectric 12.8GW, conventional hydro 6.78GW, standalone storage 260MW and NCRE storage 113MW.

In terms of clean energy projects being built, 6.49GW is underway. NCRE accounts for 5.99GW, standalone storage 346MW and NCRE storage 150MW.