Grenergy starts auction to sell 1.5 TWh of Chilean solar, storage power

Spanish renewable energy company Grenergy Renovables SA (BME:GRE) has launched a reverse auction to sell 1.5 TWh of electricity annually from its solar and battery storage plants in Chile.

The auction, which will be managed through Grenergy’s marketer GR Power, is targeting electricity generators, retailers and large industrial consumers seeking long-term power supply, the firm said on Wednesday.

The offering includes 960 GWh per year of electricity discharged from battery energy storage systems (BESS) during nighttime hours and 540 GWh per year of solar photovoltaic generation. Supply is scheduled to begin between the second and third quarters of 2028.

Participants may bid for the entire volume or in 20-GWh increments and choose contract terms of six, eight, 10, 12 or 15 years. Applications are open until July 22, while the consultation period will run until July 7, Grenergy said.

The generating assets are Grenergy’s solar and battery storage plants in northern and central Chile, the areas where the company is building a series of solar-plus-storage projects under its Oasis de Atacama and Central Oasis portfolios.

This will be the third renewable energy auction that Grenergy is organising to attract off-takers for its electricity in Chile. The first came in March 2022 and covered one solar farm. The second was announced in April last year and offered stored power and solar generation.

Chilean electricity marketplace Match Energia is again partnering with Grenergy to take registrations for the third auction.

The tender comes just after Grenergy announced the signing of its largest power purchase agreement for nighttime supplies of stored electricity in its 3.5-GWh Elena BESS in the northern Chilean region of Antofagasta. That recently inaugurated project is expected to grow to 7 GWh across subsequent phases.