Chile’s largest PV plant to add 1.7 GWh of battery storage
Chilean power utility Generadora Metropolitana, a joint venture between the French group EDF and the Chilean company AME, has inaugurated the 480 MW CEME1 project in Chile. According to the project proponents, this is the largest solar development in the country.
Until now, the title of the largest solar plant in Chile was held by Enel Green Power Chile’s 398 MW Guanchoi , which began commercial operation in July 2023.
Generadora Metropolitana announced at the end of 2021 that it had obtained financing to the tune of $980 million, part of which would be invested in the solar plant. Its construction began exactly two years ago, in June 2022, and the installation of solar panels was completed in January . The engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) works were carried out by Asian multinational Power China.
The CEME1 project, located seven kilometers from the town of María Elena, in the Antofagasta Region, features 882,720 fixed-tilt, east-west facing PV panels from the Chinese manufacturer JA Solar, spreading across 435 hectares.“This feature not only maximizes efficiency, but also represents a more sustainable and responsible use of space and achieves greater power per hectare,” the project proponents say.
The project is equipped with dry and robotic panel cleaning technology, which is said to reduce water consumption by 90% compared to other similar plants.
In its next step, Generadora Metropolitana plans to add battery energy storage to the CEME1 plant. The company says it will soon begin installing more than 1.7 GWh of batteries to store the energy produced by the project.
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