Chile inaugurates solar-and-storage hub combining 692 MW of solar power and 510 MW of storage

On August 13, in Chile’s high Atacama Desert, AES Andes inaugurated a solar-and-battery complex whose scale is easier to state than to picture: 692 MW of photovoltaic power alongside 510 MW of storage. The Andes Solar Hub sits in the Antofagasta region, approximately 2,800 meters above sea level, and has been assembled in stages since Andes Solar I began operating a decade ago.

The last stage was Andes Solar III. It entered commercial operation in April with a 171 MW photovoltaic plant and a 171.3 MW / 513 MWh battery energy storage system, or BESS — a battery installation designed to hold electricity for later use — with a three-hour storage duration. Technical data from Chile’s National Electric Coordinator gives the same figures for the plant and its battery system.

The hub grew through two earlier expansions. Andes Solar IIb began operating in July 2023 with 180 MW of solar power and a 112 MW, five-hour lithium-ion battery system supplied by Fluence; it also includes 10 MW of Maverick technology from Australia’s 5B. Andes Solar IV followed in October 2024 with approximately 211 MW of photovoltaic capacity and a 130 MW / 650 MWh BESS.

The complex is connected to the Andes Substation, a transmission node linked to InterAndes, the electrical interconnection between Chile and Argentina. Its development has accumulated an investment of over US$1.3 billion, using 1,181 hectares of state-owned land granted through six concessions. Catalina Parot, Chile’s Minister of National Assets, took part in the inauguration.

So what changes, concretely? Not the capacity of Chile’s National Electric System on the day of the ceremony: the current configuration was already complete in April. What changes is the status of a large, operating solar-plus-storage hub at a northern transmission node, with its generation and batteries now presented as one finished complex rather than as separate projects. The ministry says Chile has 27,100 MW of installed renewable capacity, including 9,595 MW on state-owned land.