Another $299m for Grenergy’s vast Oasis de Atacama solar-plus-storage site in Chile

The international lenders who financed the first two phases of the near-2 GW solar and 11 GWh energy storage Oasis de Atacama project, in northern Chile, have been tapped for another $299 million for the third of the site’s seven stages.

Spanish developer Grenergy announced French lenders BNP Paribas, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, and Société Générale; Canadian investor The Bank of Nova Scotia; and Japan’s SMBC have supplied the new green loan for the 230 MW solar and 1.3 GWh storage third phase of the project.

The non-recourse green loan brings to $644 million the investment committed to the first three phases of the project. Phases one to three will supply 451 MW of solar generation capacity and 2.5 GWh of storage.

The “world’s biggest energy storage project,” according to Grenergy, will eventually generate 11 GWh per year of clean power to be used during non-solar-generation hours and is expect to result in 1.4 million tons of carbon emission reductions.

With Grenergy stating, on Dec. 17, 2024, the first phase of the site will be connected “in the coming weeks,” the rest of the project is scheduled to come online during 2025 and 2026.

The developer said the electricity to be provided by the first four phases of the project has already been sold via power purchase agreements and additional agreements are “expected to be concluded in the coming months.”

Commenting on the latest finance announcement, David Ruiz de Andrés, executive chairman of Grenergy, said, “This milestone reaffirms the trust of leading international institutions in our solid business model and our ability to develop large-scale innovative projects.”