Spanish independent power producer (IPP) Zelestra has secured US$282 million financing and reached financial close for its 220MW solar-plus-storage plant in Chile.
Located in the northern Chilean region of Tarapacá, the hybrid project will be co-located with 1GWh of battery energy storage system (BESS).
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Financing of the Aurora solar-plus-storage project was secured with financial entities Natixis CIB and BNP Paribas, with a VAT facility granted by BCI.
Construction of the project is already underway and is carried out by Zelestra’s own engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) division. Meanwhile, a power purchase agreement (PPA) was secured earlier this year with Chilean gas provider Abastible.
Leo Moreno, CEO of Zelestra, said: “Aurora is a landmark transaction for Zelestra and reinforces the financial community’s confidence in our customer-first strategy to develop multi-technology solutions that deliver for our clients. This is a very ambitious project that includes one of the largest battery storage projects in Latin America. With construction already underway, we are now focused on delivering the project on-time and on-budget.”
The construction of solar-plus-storage projects such as the Aurora one from Zelestra, or even the co-location of BESS with operational solar PV plants in Chile has become a necessity for solar PV projects to be financially viable in the country.
Curtailment of solar PV and wind has become an ever growing issue in the South American country, which saw nearly 6TWh of solar and wind curtailed in 2024, according to trade body, the Chilean renewable energy and energy storage association (ACERA). This represented a 121% increase from the curtailment registered in 2023.
Despite the challenges around curtailed capacity, Chile is expected to be one of the leading countries for new solar PV capacity additions in the region until 2034. A report from analyst Wood Mackenzie in March this year forecast 160GW of new solar PV additions in South America by 2034.
This article was first published on our sister site Energy-storage.news.
