Chile to Double its Energy Storage Capacity Together with AES

In line with the objective of achieving carbon neutrality, Chile and AES have joined forces to accelerate the country’s energy transition by increasing their battery-based energy storage capacity, Santiago-based AES Andes announced recently.

Within the framework of the company’s participation in the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference – known as COP26 – which takes place in Glasgow, the Chilean Minister of Mining and Energy, Juan Carlos Jobet, together with the Executive Vice President and Global Leader of Operations and Infrastructure, Bernerd Da Santos, announced an expansion plan for this energy storage technology, adding 188 MW to those under construction to reach more than 300 MW by 2023.

This is expected to allow the country to store and deliver up to 1,563 MWh per day of energy to the system, which means avoiding more than 200,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, the equivalent of removing more than 80,000 private vehicles from the streets of Chile.

The announcement is part of the global implementation of this technology by AES as a fundamental pillar for the integration of renewables and the decarbonization of the energy sector, stated the company.

The biminister of Energy and Mining, Juan Carlos Jobet, pointed out that “in this COP26 we have addressed the urgency to make the goals we have as a planet a reality. And for Chile, this announcement is a great step, since it is in complete harmony with what we have proposed in our National Energy Policy so that by 2030 we will have at least 2,000 MW in storage systems. Because, let’s be clear, faced with the growing need for flexibility in the electrical system, we need batteries, or liquid air systems, and all types of storage technologies to integrate renewable sources and ensure that clean energy is available. at any time and for all households in Chile. ”

Meanwhile, Bernerd Da Santos, highlighted that “AES has been a pioneer in the world in the installation of storage systems with batteries, bringing the first of its kind to Chile in 2009.”

Da Santos highlighted that “the development of this type of technology is important, but joint work between the public and private sectors is also a fundamental pillar to generate a positive impact through innovation and collaboration and advance in responsible energy transitions and make the countries’ sustainable economic reactivation reality, while they achieve their decarbonization goals.”

For his part, Ricardo Falú, CEO of AES Andes, indicated that this announcement represents an investment of more than US $ 400 million for Chile in battery systems integrated into renewable initiatives, which implies the creation of around 900 jobs and contributes to energize the productive activity of the communities close to these projects.

“With innovative and competitive energy solutions such as batteries, the country will have about 25 times its energy storage capacity with lithium batteries by 2023. This will allow displacing thermal generation in hours of lower renewable availability, contributing to the decarbonization of the electricity matrix and the productive sectors of Chile,” he said.