We inaugurate the largest energy storage plant in Latin America
BESS Coya marks a new milestone in the decarbonization process that Chile is implementing.
The National Electricity Coordinator has authorized the start of operations at BESS Coya, the largest battery-based energy storage system in Latin America.
Owned by ENGIE Chile, the plant is located in María Elena, in the Antofagasta Region. It has a storage capacity of 638 MWh, with 139 MW of installed capacity.
The plant contains Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) technology, and uses lithium batteries to store the renewable energy generated by the Coya Photovoltaic Park (180 MW ac).
The project contains 232 containers that are evenly distributed among the solar plant’s 58 invertors. This allows energy to be supplied for 5 hours, equivalent to 200 GWh on average per year.
The plant also plays a fundamental environmental role, as it supplies around 100,000 homes with green energy, avoiding the emission of 65,642 tons of CO2 per year.
The batteries in photovoltaic parks are charged with the energy that the solar panels receive during the day. They then release this energy into the system at night, when there is no solar generation. This avoids the dumping of renewable energy that is taking place today in northern Chile, where there is not the transmission capacity to transport solar energy during peak daytime hours.
Electrical energy storage systems
At the inauguration, President Gabriel Boric highlighted that in last year’s Public Account, a tender for electrical energy storage systems in northern Chile was announced worth US$2 billion. The systems will begin operating in late 2026.
This announcement goes hand-in-hand with the inauguration of the BESS Coya plant. It aims to take advantage of the renewable resources available in the Atacama Desert, make better use of the existing transmission infrastructure and supply customer consumption at night in a more sustainable way.
Chile’s energy transition bill, presented in July 2023, is also key to this, and is part of the second phase of the energy transition promoted by the government.