Wärtsilä will supply an 8-megawatt (MW)/32-megawatt hour (MWh) energy storage system to Colbun, to accelerate its transition to renewable energy as the country targets carbon neutrality by 2050. The order was booked to Wärtsilä order intake in Q3, 2021 and the system is expected to become operational in Q4 of 2022. Wärtsilä will supply the energy storage system on an engineering and equipment delivery (EEQ) basis. The Wärtsilä energy storage system will be co-located with Colbun’s 230 MWp Diego de Almagro solar photovoltaic (PV) facility located in the Atacama region. This will be Colbun’s first system of an energy storage portfolio that will allow the power generation company to integrate additional renewable energy capacity to achieve net-zero emissions.
The energy storage system will also help proactively address constraints on the transmission system from the new solar facility and allow Colbun to shift excess energy production from day to night to avoid curtailment, which also improves revenues for the company. Additionally, the system will provide frequency response and firm capacity to ensure adequate energy supply during peak periods. Once the system will be operational, some 80,000 households are estimated to benefit from it.