Spanish renewable energy company Grenergy will launch the world’s largest electricity storage project in the Atacama Desert (Chile). The battery, whose construction is divided into five phases and is expected to be fully operational in 2026, will have a capacity of 4.1 gigawatt hours (GWh) in California, 1.1 more than the battery behind it. The investment will amount to around 1.4 billion dollars (almost 1.3 billion euros at the current exchange rate), as the company announced this Tuesday at its first investor day.
Chile is Grenergy’s second most important market after Spain. The company, headed 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 while ago. of a decade. “It is a superpower for energy storage development. 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 biggest thing the company has ever undertaken,” emphasized the managing director at a meeting with the media in Madrid.
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Batteries, according to Ruiz de Andrés, will lead the “great change” in the world of energy in the coming years: “If photovoltaics was the real energy miracle, because there has never been, not even close to, an energy.” Storage is like that competitive that it is the best way to close the renewable energy gap and enable greater adoption of clean generation technologies.”
The CEO of Grenergy – and owner of more than half of the company – emphasized that the massive adoption of batteries will make it possible to “deliver clean energy not only when the sun is shining, but also at peak times.” in the early morning and late afternoon, when consumption spikes, forcing natural gas plants to turn on, which emit CO₂ and increase electricity bills.
Storage “explosion” around the world
Storage also makes it possible to enter into contracts to supply clean energy to companies not only during the hours when the sun or wind is shining, but also during the remaining hours. “Previously we could only sell energy if a resource was available; Now we will have a tool that will allow us to compete directly with heat producers [los que generan con gas y/o carbón]. “We will see a battery explosion worldwide,” predicted Ruiz de Andrés.
Grenergy was founded in 2007 in the middle of the era of renewable energy premiums. The end of these incentives for the installation of solar panels and wind turbines led them to “seek a life outside” and set their sights on Chile, where the country has already become a “leader in green energy.” The growth in recent years has been exponential: while in 2015, when the company started trading at the Mercado Wechselo Bursátil (MAB, for small businesses), the company had only 20 employees, today there are almost 500. Most of them in Spain.
The company’s goal is to have five of the 15.5 GW of renewables in its portfolio operational by 2026, 1.5 more than expected a year ago. When it comes to storage, the jump is even bigger: the target is to reach 4.1 GWh, compared to the three GWh forecast 12 months ago.
The company, led by Ruiz de Andrés, has 15.5 gigawatts (GW) of photovoltaic energy in development, but has not yet achieved this in operation. The form of operation consists primarily of long-term electricity supply contracts (so-called PPAs), through which 80% of the energy generated is channeled. In addition to Spain and Chile, the company is also present in the USA, Colombia, Peru and Mexico and is taking its first steps in large European countries such as Italy, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom.
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