Santiago, Madrid and Milan, 17^th December 2024 – ContourGlobal has announced its entrance into the Chilean renewables market with the acquisition of a co-located large-scale solar PV and BESS portfolio from Grenergy (BME:GRE), a Spanish listed renewables developer and Independent Power Producer (IPP) with a strong track record in developing, building and operating renewables assets in Spain, U.S. and LatAm.  

The transaction for more than US$900 million Enterprise Value (including secured project finance debt of US$643 million) comprises three independent projects in the Northern regions of Atacama (Quillagua I and II) and Tarapacá (Victor Jara), with a hybrid Solar PV generation capacity of 451 MWp and 2.5 GWh of BESS (corresponding to up to 6.5 hours of daily operation). Located in a desert and mining area, the projects will generate at regime almost 1,300 GWh / year of clean power, contributing to the decarbonization of local industries and to the country at large. 

Antonio Cammisecra, CEO of ContourGlobal, commented, “The acquisition of this portfolio from Grenergy is a key step in ContourGlobal’s strategy to become a predominantly renewable Independent Power Producer by 2030, accelerating decarbonization through a sustainable transition of its thermal fleet, repowering existing green assets, and ambitious development of new renewable projects. It also marks an exciting milestone as we enter the promising Chilean market with assets already in operations or under construction, and with a business model that represents the cutting edge of the energy transition with the PV component charging batteries that can dispatch solar power also during the night. A business model we will pursue in other markets serving the electricity needs of new emerging businesses.”

David Ruiz de Andrés, CEO of Grenergy, added “We have generated great value with this transaction, which represents just 23% of Oasis de Atacama in Chile. We continue to develop many other projects in the country with a storage-focused model that we want to replicate in other markets where we are present, such as the United States and Europe. We are determined to be a world reference in storage in the coming years.  It has been a pleasure to close this agreement with ContourGlobal (KKR) and we hope it will be the first of many”.

About the plants 

The portfolio is composed by the Quillagua Projects (I and II), located in Atacama, with a first segment of 103 MWp solar PV in operation, and a second segment under construction of 118 MWp solar PV and 1.2 GWh BESS, expected to reach COD in Q3 2025. Further north, in Tarapacá, the Victor Jara project - a 230 MWp  solar PV plant coupled with a 1.3 GWh BESS -  is under construction and expected to reach commercial operation early 2026. The deal includes EPC services to be provided by Grenergy, which has already established strategic agreements for critical equipment supply, including batteries. 

The projects are designed so that the PV plants charge the BESS and only sell excess energy to the grid. The BESS sells its energy under the PPA agreement overnight with up to 6.5 hour duration, dispatching any additional energy to the merchant market.