The Atacama Desert is becoming a green hub. Grenergy is building 14.1 GWh of energy storage and AI data centers.
Spanish independent power producer Grenergy has officially inaugurated the Elena complex — a battery energy storage system with a capacity of up to 3.5 GWh, located in Chile’s Antofagasta region. The Madrid-based developer emphasizes that this is currently the largest operational energy storage installation in the Americas.
The facility consists of 624 battery containers, housing a total of 6,240 battery modules. The project represents the sixth phase of Grenergy’s large solar-plus-storage platform, Oasis de Atacama, being developed in northern Chile.
A new “solar-plus-storage” model
The opening ceremony of the Elena complex took place in the municipality of María Elena and was attended by top national officials. Participants included Chile’s President José Antonio Kast Rist, Energy Minister Ximena Rincón, Science and Technology Minister Ximena Lincolao, and Spain’s ambassador to Chile Laura Oroz.
The Elena complex serves as a technological benchmark for a model combining large-scale solar PV with energy storage, which Grenergy plans to replicate across other markets. Last month, the company updated its strategic plan, significantly expanding the scale of the Oasis de Atacama platform — it is now expected to include 2.5 GW of solar capacity and 14.1 GWh of battery storage.
At the same time, the developer is preparing additional large-scale projects using the same model. In central Chile, it is planning the Oasis Central platform (1.4 GW of solar projects and 5.1 GWh of storage), while in Europe it intends to build the Iberian Oasis complex in Spain. Altogether, the Oasis portfolio is expected to reach 5 GW of solar capacity and 22 GWh of storage, enabling solar generation to be shifted to nighttime hours, improving grid flexibility, and delivering dispatchable clean energy to industrial customers.
Gigawatt-scale plans for AI data centers
Alongside the launch of the Elena storage system, Grenergy revealed strategic details about its new business division, GR Data, focused on developing data centers in Chile. The company’s pipeline in this segment already totals 1 GW of IT capacity.
One of the flagship projects will be Atacama Data, an AI training campus to be built next to the newly inaugurated Elena storage facility. The project is planned to start at 400 MW of IT capacity, with the potential to scale up to a full 1 GW. Two additional projects — Polpaico Campus Norte and Alto Jahuel Campus Sur — will be located near Chile’s main telecommunications hubs.
Grenergy has been active in Chile since 2012. So far, it has invested $2.8 billion in the country and plans to invest an additional $2 billion over the next two years.