The Spanish renewable company Grenergy will launch the largest electricity storage project in the world in the Atacama Desert (Chile). The battery, whose construction will be segmented into five phases and which should be fully operational in 2026, will have a capacity of 4.1 gigawatt hours (GWh), 1.1 more than the one behind it, in California. The investment will be around 1.4 billion dollars (almost 1.3 billion euros at the current exchange rate), as the company revealed this Tuesday at its first investor day.
Chile is, after Spain, the second most important market for Grenergy. The company directed—and founded—by David Ruiz de Andrés, which has been listed on the continuous market of the Madrid Stock Exchange for four years and is valued at just over 800 million euros, landed in the South American country a little longer ago. of a decade. “It is a superpower for the development of energy storage. It has the best solar resource in the world, and the Atacama Oasis [el nombre que recibe el macroproyecto de almacenamiento, que acompañará a una gran planta de fotovoltaica] “It is, by far, the largest that the company has ever undertaken,” the executive emphasized in a meeting with the media held in Madrid.
Batteries, Ruiz de Andrés has stated, are going to lead the “great change” in the world of energy in the coming years: “If photovoltaics have been the true energy miracle, because there has never existed, not even remotely, an energy “So competitive, storage is the best way to solve the intermittency of renewables and facilitate a more massive implementation of clean generation technologies.”
The massive introduction of batteries, the CEO of Grenergy – and owner of more than half of the company – has emphasized, will allow “to be able to deliver clean energy not only when there is sun, but also during peak hours,” in reference in the early morning and late afternoon, when consumption grows strongly and forces the switching on of natural gas plants, which emit CO₂ and make the electricity bill more expensive.
Storage “explosion” around the world
Storage also opens the door to signing contracts to supply clean energy to companies not only during the hours when there is sun or wind, but also during the rest. “Until now we could only sell energy when there was a resource; Now we are going to have a tool to compete face to face with thermal producers [los que generan con gas y/o carbón]. We are going to see an explosion of batteries throughout the world,” predicted Ruiz de Andrés.
Grenergy was born in 2007, in the midst of the era of premiums for renewables. The end of those incentives for the installation of solar panels and wind turbines led them to “look for a life outside,” setting their sights on Chile, where it has already become a “leader in green energy.” Its growth in recent years has been exponential: if in 2015, when it began trading on the Mercado Alternativo Bursátil (MAB, for small companies) it had only 20 employees, today there are close to 500. Most of them, in Spain.
Of the 15.5 GW of renewables it has in its portfolio, the company’s objective is to have five in operation by 2026, 1.5 more than they anticipated a year ago. In the case of storage, the jump is even greater: it aims to reach 4.1GWh, compared to the three it projected 12 months ago.
The company led by Ruiz de Andrés has 15.5 gigawatts (GW) of photovoltaic energy in development, although it has not yet reached one in operation. Its form of operation is, above all, with long-term electricity supply contracts (known as PPAs), through which it channels 80% of the energy it generates. In addition to Spain and Chile, it also has a presence in the United States, Colombia, Peru and Mexico, and is taking its first steps in large European countries such as Italy, Germany, Poland or the United Kingdom, among others.
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