Spanish independent power producer (IPP) Grenergy Renovables will invest in expanding its solar PV and energy storage portfolios to 5GW and 4.1GWh respectively by 2026.
According to its Strategic Plan 2023-2026, the IPP will commit US$2.6 billion to these expansions, with US$1.5 billion allocated to solar PV and US$800 million to energy storage. Of its three major operational markets – the US, Europe and Latin America – Grenergy highlighted Chile as a fulcrum for leveraging up its solar and storage businesses.
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To support the planned growth, the company said that it expects to continue to expand its asset rotation model through 2026, by which it funds projects at certain points and sells them to more well-positioned investors at a later stage. The company said that it expects to sell between 350MW-450MW of solar PV capacity and 1GWh of storage capacity to the market annually, generating around US$600 million by 2026.
Earlier this year, it signed power purchase agreements (PPA) for solar projects in Chile and Spain with respective capacities of 241MW and 259MW.
Both of these are pivotal markets for Grenergy, and Chile featured most prominently in its Strategic Plan announcement. In addition to its solar PV assets in the country, which add to over 900MW across operational and pipeline projects, the company said that “Chile will be key to the company’s growth in the storage sector”.
It said that construction had begun on the Oasis de Atacama battery storage project, which will be the “largest in the world” with 4.1GWh capacity and a further 1GW of solar PV generation. The project will represent a total US$1.4 billion.
“Today, Chile is a superpower in terms of the development of energy storage due to the exceptional conditions of the Atacama Desert in terms of hours of solar radiation and the particularity of the energy mix of this vast area, where the penetration of solar energy reaches 50%,” said David Ruiz de Andrés, CEO of Grenergy.
“Oasis de Atacama will be an iconic project for Grenergy and the entire renewable sector. We have the backing of five international banks mandated to finance it, the secured sale with a PPAs signed with EMOAC [a subsidiary of COPEC, the energy and forestry company], and the know-how and talent needed to get it off the ground.”
Swiss investment group SUSI Partners entered a development deal earlier this month for two large-scale solar-plus-storage projects in Chile, featuring ‘up to’ 900MWh of energy storage and 232MWp of solar PV.
Elsewhere, Grenergy concluded the complete acquisition of US solar developer Sofos Harbert in February 2023, now to be known as Grenergy US and continue the deployment of its 1.9GW solar project pipeline.