Independent power producer (IPP) Verano Energy has closed a US$204 million financing for a 83MW/660MWh solar-plus-storage project in Chile.
Located in the northern region of Atacama, the Domeyko Solar + Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project is currently under construction.
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The project is expected to begin its commercial operation by the end of 2026. The capacity generated by the project will be provided to Chilean gas provider Abastible, under a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA).
The Domeyko project will require a total capital expenditure of US$247 million, which will be financed through a US$176 million finance term loan provided by a consortium of international banks that includes SMBC, Société Générale and Scotiabank. The latter will also provide US$12 million in VAT debt financing, while equity will be provided by Lumina Capital Management, a global investment fund specialising in sustainable infrastructure.
Dylan Rudney, CEO of Verano Energy, said: “In just over a decade, we have evolved from a solar developer into a fully integrated independent power producer with projects across Chile, Colombia, Argentina and Peru.”
Co-locating storage with operational solar PV plants or building solar-plus-storage in Chile has become a necessity. This responds to a twofold issue the solar PV market has been facing lately.
The first one is the ever-growing curtailment of solar and wind power, which reached record levels in 2024 with nearly 6TWh of generation curtailed, more than double the volume in 2023. The second challenge is on the financial side with the reduction of income due to low prices of electricity with increasing zero marginal cost (Premium access).
Despite these challenges, the Chilean solar market is facing, the country is still expected to be one of the leading markets in the region in the coming decade. A report from analyst Wood Mackenzie forecast that Chile and Brazil will account for 78% of the 160GW new PV installations in South America by 2034.
