The Victor Jara hybrid power plant in Tarapacá can deliver up to 200 MW of solar energy at night thanks to a BESS with 6.5 hours of autonomy.
A photovoltaic solar power plant in the Tarapacá Desert has begun to light up Chilean homes at night. This is not a play on words; it is thanks to the battery energy storage system (BESS) that ContourGlobal inaugurated this week at its Victor Jara plant. The system has a capacity to deliver 6.5 hours of continuous power and is able to provide 200 MW at night. It is now the most autonomous utility-scale BESS storage project currently in operation in Latin America.
The system’s inauguration was attended by Energy Minister Ximena Rincón González and ContourGlobal’s general manager for South America, James Lee Stancampiano, in a sign that this type of project is already at the center of Chile’s energy strategy.
From intermittent to steady sun
The problem that Victor Jara solves is well known in the industry. Chile is generating more and more solar energy, but it does so during daylight hours, when demand is lower. The oversupply of solar energy during off-peak hours goes hand-in-hand with shortages during the evenings and nights, when consumption skyrockets.
The model that ContourGlobal calls “Sun at Night” addresses that imbalance. The 231 MWp photovoltaic park charges the batteries during daylight hours and dispatches that energy to the system during peak consumption hours. Commercial support has been provided through a 15-year nighttime power purchase agreement (PPA) with Copec EMOAC, one of the country’s leading independent electricity suppliers.
This is an unusual contract in the Chilean market. Instead of selling energy when it is produced, the agreement is designed to sell energy when it is needed.
A portfolio that already totals 850 MW
Victor Jara is not the only project of this type that ContourGlobal has in Chile. The company also operates the Quillagua power plant in Antofagasta, with 221 MWp of solar power and 1.2 GWh of storage. Between both plants, the company has 850 MW in operation in the country, combining photovoltaic generation and storage. Globally, ContourGlobal operates more than 3 GWh of BESS capacity and has additional projects moving towards construction.
Source: Diario Sustentable.
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