Grenergy Speeds Up Construction of World's Largest Battery Storage System

Spain's Grenergy Renovables and Asia's BYD, a manufacturer of electric vehicles and battery energy storage systems (BESS), have extended the supply agreement for the Oasis de Atacama project in Chile to 3 GWh, which will thus have the largest BESS in the world.

The agreement now covers the third phase of the 1 GW of solar and 4.1 GWh of storage project in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, after the companies initially agreed to 1.1 GWh of BESS equipment for the first phase in January.

Within the framework of this collaboration, BYD will supply Grenergy with its MC Cube model for the Víctor Jara plant. The arrival of the facilities is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2025 and to come into operation throughout the same year.

This agreement comprises a total of 537 containers, equivalent to the storage capacity of more than 9,000 electric buses and a range of more than 1.6 million kilometers, according to Grenergy.

Oasis de Atacama is the largest storage project in the world. It already has 75% of its energy contracted through long-term contracts (PPAs) and it is estimated that the first phase will be connected by the end of this year, while the rest of the phases will be mostly connected in 2025.

As highlighted in the specialized energy storage portal Energy-Storage.news, Chile is currently "a hotbed of development and construction of grid-scale energy storage projects, as investors and IPPs take advantage of the enormous opportunities offered by the country's volatile energy market, as well as the capacity market opportunities that the regulator has recently finalized, often through PPAs between carriers and utilities."