Zelestra Commissions 1 GWh Aurora BESS in Chile’s Atacama Desert Ten Months After Financial Close

Spanish renewable developer Zelestra, backed by Swedish fund EQT, has brought online the Aurora hybrid project in Pozo Almonte, Tarapacá region, pairing 1 GWh of battery storage with 220 MWdc of solar capacity. The system completed its first nighttime discharge in May 2026, ten months after reaching financial close in July 2025 with $282 million in debt from Natixis CIB and BNP Paribas, plus a VAT facility from BCI. The project ranks among the largest battery installations in Latin America and is scheduled to begin full commercial operations within weeks.

The storage system operates under a long-term power purchase agreement signed with Abastible in March 2025. Abastible, a subsidiary of Chilean conglomerate Copec, has expanded its electricity market presence across Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador in recent years. The PPA channels solar energy stored during daylight hours to Abastible’s customer base, primarily small and medium enterprises requiring reliable evening supply.

Zelestra deployed its in-house engineering, procurement, and construction division to execute the project. The installation utilizes Sungrow equipment throughout, including PowerTitan 2.0 liquid-cooled battery systems and medium-voltage power conversion systems for storage, alongside Sungrow inverters for the solar array. Each PowerTitan 2.0 unit integrates 5 MWh of battery capacity with a 2.5 MW power conversion system in a 20-foot container. The site is located in the Atacama Desert, one of the world’s highest solar irradiation zones, with the project expected to generate 600 GWh annually, equivalent to consumption by approximately 200,000 Chilean households.

The Aurora project forms part of Zelestra’s 7 GW regional pipeline across solar, wind, and storage technologies in Latin America. The company, formerly Solarpack before rebranding in June 2024, operates across 13 countries with a global portfolio of approximately 29 GW of zero-carbon projects. Of this total, 5.4 GW is contracted, operational, under construction, or in advanced development. The company has committed between 20 and 30 percent of a planned €5 billion investment to Spanish projects through 2026, with 8 GW of contracts signed globally for delivery by that date.

Chile has emerged as a focal market for battery storage deployment. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners began construction on a 300 MW/1,500 MWh facility in northern Chile within the past month. Sonnedix signed three PPAs for its 117 MW/643.8 MWh Librillo project with Copec EMOAC, another Copec renewable subsidiary. Innergex and Prevalon Energy commissioned the 42 MW/210 MWh San Andrés II system in May 2026, adding to the 35 MW/175 MWh San Andrés I system for a combined 77 MW/385 MWh of storage at the same solar site in Atacama.