Spain-based developer Acciona Energia will add a gigawatt-hour-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) at its 238MWp Malgarida solar PV plant in Chile.
Located in the Atacama Desert, which has among the highest levels of solar irradiance in the world, Acciona Energia’s project will see a 200MW/1,000MWh (5-hour duration) BESS deployed at the site of its Malgarida solar PV complex.
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The 238MWp project, comprising two phases, was commissioned in mid-2021, with the developer citing an associated investment cost of US$170 million for the 535-hectare facility at that time.
Acciona Energia—a full lifecycle renewable energy developer and a subsidiary of Spain-headquartered infrastructure and renewables developer Acciona—said the batteries will allow the PV plant’s output to be stored, managed and dispatched as required.
The company said the BESS at Malgarida is one of three battery projects it is developing in Chile at its solar PV plants, with a cumulative BESS capacity of 1.5GWh. The firm currently has an operational renewables portfolio in the Latin American country of 922MW, comprising three wind power plants and five PV plants.
The significant expansion of solar PV generation capacity in Chile has led to increasing levels of curtailment on the country’s grid. PV Tech reported last month that PV curtailment increased in 2025, reaching 3.2TWh – a phenomenon which has increased the need for energy storage capacity to integrate renewables with the grid.
Chile took centre stage at the Energy Storage Summit Latin America 2025 hosted by our publisher Solar Media last month in the capital, Santiago.
The full version of this story was originally published on our sister site, Energy-storage.news.
