Grenergy has secured a senior non-recourse financing agreement worth US$270 million, including a term loan and a line of credit (LC Loan), for the sixth phase of the Oasis de Atacama megaproject, known as ‘Elena’.
The financing has been underwritten by a pool of leading international financial institutions, led by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC) as the structuring bank and including BNP Paribas, BBVA, and KfW.
The operation will enable the deployment of 3.5 GWh of battery storage capacity included in this phase, as well as financing the acquisition – to be completed in 2024 – of the assets of Repsol and Ibereólica, which are also part of Phase 6.
Elena currently has 77 MW of solar power in operation, which facilitates its integration into the Chilean electricity system. Therefore, the objective of this financing is to immediately begin installing batteries that will store solar energy from both the existing plant and the electricity grid, taking advantage of the current low prices during daylight hours.
With this new transaction, Grenergy has secured £1.237 billion in non-recourse financing for the entire Oasis de Atacama project, which comprises a total of 0.8 GW of solar capacity and 6.7 GWh of energy storage.
The batteries installed at Elena are the result of the agreement with BYD Energy Storage, a global company specialising in energy solutions, which will supply a total of 6240 units of its MC Cube T model, equivalent to 624 containers.
This agreement represents the largest supply of batteries in Latin America and the second largest worldwide, consolidating the strategic alliance between the two companies in one of the largest energy storage projects on the planet.
Grenergy will continue to replicate its solar-storage hybrid model in new platforms such as Central Oasis, in central Chile, and in Europe, where the Escuderos project in Spain stands out as its flagship.
The company has a global pipeline of more than 77.9 GWh in storage and 12.5 GW of solar power in various stages of development, which is key to accelerating the integration of solar energy into the energy mix.
David Ruiz de Andrés, CEO of Grenergy, commented: “This operation reinforces the confidence of international banks in our hybrid model and the soundness of our strategic plan. Elena is not only the largest phase of the Oasis de Atacama megaproject, but also an example of the excellent execution of our EPC teams. With the accelerated installation of batteries, we are maximising the value of the project by taking advantage of market opportunities during non-solar hours, consolidating our leadership in large scale energy storage.”
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