ACCIONA Energía has announced the construction of a 1 GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at its Malgarida solar PV complex (238 MWp), located in Chile’s Atacama Desert—one of the world’s highest solar-irradiation regions. Scheduled to begin operations in early 2027, it will rank among the largest utility-scale storage projects in Latin America.
The BESS will have 200 MW of power and 1 GWh of capacity, enabling it to deliver 200 MW of electricity for up to five hours. This will allow ACCIONA Energía to store solar production from Malgarida during the day and dispatch it at night, improving resource flexibility, supporting the decarbonization of Chile’s power matrix, and reducing reliance on fossil-fuel generation during peak demand periods.
With this project, ACCIONA Energía aims to enhance renewable-energy management in Chile, a market where the Spanish company operates 922 MW of installed capacity distributed across:
Wind power (three wind farms – 312 MW total)
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Punta Palmeras – 45 MW
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San Gabriel – 183 MW
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Tolpán Sur – 84 MW
Solar PV (five plants – 610 MWp total)
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El Romero – 246 MWp
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Usya – 64 MWp
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Almeyda – 62 MWp
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Malgarida – 238 MWp
The company is also developing three additional battery-storage projects totaling 1.5 GWh, all co-located with its solar PV plants in Chile. ACCIONA Energía expects that falling storage costs and strong solar resources in northern Chile will accelerate the deployment of energy-storage systems capable of shifting daytime solar production to evening demand peaks.
Large-scale battery systems are increasingly essential to support grid integration of renewable energy, particularly in markets like Chile with high solar penetration. BESS assets help stabilize the grid, mitigate curtailment, improve dispatchability and ensure clean-energy availability during peak-demand hours, contributing to the security and flexibility of the national electricity system.
