Chile’s new 2GWh Dune Plus project shows how large‑scale batteries, solar and smart contracts can turn wasted renewables into reliable clean power for heavy industry.
Most people outside the energy world don’t realise this: in 2024 Chile added about 2.2TWh of new solar generation to its grid, but solar curtailment jumped by 2.7TWh in the same period. In plain English, Chile threw away more clean solar electricity than all the new panels produced.
That’s not a solar problem. It’s a storage problem.
And that’s why the new Dune Plus project in Chile’s Atacama Desert – a 2GWh portfolio of battery energy storage systems (BESS) and solar-plus-storage led by an EDF–AME joint venture – matters far beyond Latin America. It shows how green technology, backed by serious finance and smart contracts, can turn wasted renewable energy into reliable, 24/7 clean power for heavy industry.
This post breaks down what Dune Plus actually is, why Chile is suddenly a global reference point for large-scale batteries, and what businesses should learn from this if they care about stable, low-carbon energy – especially in energy‑intensive sectors like mining, data centres and manufacturing.
Inside Dune Plus: 2GWh of storage built for real demand
The core of the story is simple: Generadora Metropolitano, a joint venture between EDF and Chilean developer AME, has started building a large-scale portfolio in María Elena, Antofagasta, in the Atacama Desert.
The portfolio includes two main assets:
- Dune – a 333.5MW, 4‑hour standalone BESS (about 1,334MWh of storage)
- La Pampina – a 186MWp solar PV plant paired with a 175.5MW, 4‑hour BESS (around 702MWh)
Together, Dune Plus delivers roughly 509MW / 2,036MWh of grid‑scale storage – enough to shift several hours of peak solar output into the evening and night. The site, spread over 186 hectares, will use around 150 transformers to move all that power.
Here’s the thing about this portfolio: it’s not speculative capacity hunting for a market. It’s locked into real, long‑term demand.
- A 15‑year PPA has been signed with Codelco, Chile’s state‑owned copper giant.
- The contract starts January 2026.
- It covers 1,000GWh per year of 100% renewable electricity for Codelco’s mining operations.
So from day one, the batteries and panels aren’t just feeding the spot market; they’re serving a single, power‑hungry customer that wants predictable, green electricity.
For anyone trying to build serious green tech projects, that combination – large‑scale storage + solar + long‑term PPA with an energy‑intensive offtaker – is exactly what de‑risks investment and opens the door to non‑recourse project finance.
Why Chile needs massive batteries now, not later
Chile isn’t just adding batteries because they’re fashionable. It’s doing it because the old model – add more solar and hope the grid copes – has clearly broken.
Curtailment: when solar is “too successful”
The Atacama Desert has some of the highest solar irradiation levels on Earth. Developers rushed in, and Chile quickly became a Latin American leader in solar PV.
The downside: the grid often can’t absorb all that midday generation. So operators curtail – they throttle back or disconnect solar plants even when the sun is blazing and panels could be producing at full tilt.
According to Chile’s renewable energy and storage association (ACERA), in 2024 the country:
- Added 2.2TWh of new solar PV generation to the grid
- But saw solar curtailment increase by 2.7TWh
That’s a warning sign. If you’re wasting more new clean electricity than you’re creating, you don’t have a generation problem anymore. You have a system design problem.
Storage as the fix for stranded renewables
Chile’s answer has been refreshingly direct: build a lot of storage, fast.
At the Energy Storage Summit Latin America, Chile’s then‑energy minister Diego Pardow Lorenzo stated that the country will:
- Exceed its 2GW-by-2030 BESS target by January 2026
- Reach its 2050 storage deployment target (6GW) as early as 2027
That’s not incremental progress. That’s a complete front‑loading of the storage transition.
Projects like Dune Plus fit perfectly into this strategy:
- 4‑hour duration BESS is ideal for energy shifting – storing cheap or free midday solar and releasing it during evening peaks.
- Solar‑plus‑storage helps flatten price volatility and reduce curtailment, because plants can earn value beyond the narrow solar peak.
- Heavy industrial offtakers get firm, low‑carbon power, rather than “green when the sun shines, fossil the rest of the time.”
The reality? Chile is turning curtailed solar into an asset instead of a liability – and batteries are the tool that makes that possible.
Green technology meets heavy industry: why mining is central
If you care about climate, you have to care about mining. Copper and lithium don’t appear out of thin air, and the clean‑energy transition runs on both.
Antofagasta: where minerals meet megawatts
The Antofagasta region is one of the world’s most important mining hubs:
- Major source of copper, essential for grids, EVs and electrification
- Key player in lithium, which underpins most current battery chemistries
Codelco, Dune Plus’s anchor customer, has set a target of 100% renewable electricity for its operations by 2030. Over just the last two years, it has awarded more than 3,000GWh per year in renewable contracts.
This matters because there’s a persistent myth that mining and green technology are always in conflict. Projects like Dune Plus show a different path:
- Mining operations decarbonise their electricity supply
- Battery storage smooths out the variability of solar to match industrial demand
- The same region that supplies global energy transition materials is powered by the transition itself
From a brand and ESG perspective, that’s powerful. From a grid‑stability perspective, it’s just smart engineering.
How AI fits into smarter green infrastructure
Across our Green Technology series, we’ve seen a clear pattern: once you connect large volumes of variable renewables and storage, you need intelligence, not just hardware.
Projects on the scale of Dune Plus are fertile ground for AI‑driven optimisation:
- Forecasting & dispatch: Machine learning can predict solar output, mining load, and market prices, then optimise when the BESS charges and discharges.
- Asset health monitoring: AI‑based analytics can spot early signs of battery degradation, allowing operators to adjust operating windows and extend asset life.
- Curtailment minimisation: Smart controllers can coordinate across multiple solar plants and storage systems to absorb excess energy before it gets curtailed.
If you’re an energy‑intensive business, this is where the real value sits: not just owning green assets, but running them with data‑driven precision.
The finance and structure behind Dune Plus (and why it works)
Big green tech projects rarely fail on technology. They fail on structure: mismatched risks, unclear revenue, or weak counterparties.
Dune Plus is structured in a way other developers should copy.
Non‑recourse finance plus long‑term PPA
Financing for Dune Plus was closed under a non‑recourse project finance structure, backed by a consortium of major international banks. Another Chilean bank provided a VAT loan – a practical piece many developers underestimate.
The banks showed up because the fundamentals are solid:
- 15‑year PPA with Codelco anchors revenue
- 100% renewable offtake fits directly into both Chilean policy and Codelco’s ESG goals
- Solar and 4‑hour BESS are both proven technologies at this scale
If you’re planning a similar project, three design lessons stand out:
- Secure a creditworthy offtaker early. Long‑term PPAs with industrials or utilities are still the strongest story you can present to lenders.
- Match technology to use‑case. Four‑hour batteries make sense where the main job is shifting solar; don’t over‑engineer with exotic chemistries unless the revenue stack justifies it.
- Treat tax and policy as design inputs, not afterthoughts. VAT loans, grid‑connection rules and storage regulations can make or break bankability.
A JV built for transition, not just new build
Generadora Metropolitano itself is an interesting template. The JV launched in 2018, initially by acquiring four backup power plants from AES Gener. Two diesel plants have since been shut down, and the company now focuses on low‑carbon technologies.
To date, it has put 1,030MW of solar PV across four plants into operation. Dune Plus is its first battery storage portfolio.
I like this approach: instead of clinging to legacy assets, the JV is using existing grid connections, know‑how and teams as a bridge into cleaner infrastructure. Plenty of utilities still haven’t made that turn.
What this means for businesses planning their own energy strategy
So what does a 2GWh BESS in northern Chile mean for you if you’re running a business somewhere else in the world?
The main lesson is that storage‑backed renewables are no longer experimental. They’re becoming the default for any serious decarbonisation plan – especially in sectors with high, round‑the‑clock electricity demand.
If you’re an energy‑intensive industrial
You should be asking three questions right now:
- Where is my power coming from in 2030? If the answer is still “the spot market,” you’re exposed – to both carbon risk and price risk.
- Can a solar‑plus‑storage PPA stabilise my costs? Chile shows it can: 1,000GWh/year on a 15‑year contract is exactly about cost visibility.
- How am I using data and AI to optimise energy use? The hardware is important; how you operate it is where you win.
Practical moves that work in most markets:
- Map your hourly load profile and identify where shifted renewables plus storage can replace fossil‑backed peaks.
- Talk to developers who already operate BESS portfolios – not just solar developers.
- Build flexibility into your contracts so AI‑driven optimisation (e.g. changing charge/discharge windows) is commercially allowed, not penalised.
If you’re a developer or investor
Dune Plus underlines what the next wave of bankable projects will look like:
- Hybrid assets: solar‑plus‑storage or wind‑plus‑storage, not standalone solar only
- 4–5 hour BESS durations where the problem is curtailment and evening peaks
- Industrial decarbonisation PPAs instead of just utility‑only offtake
- Portfolio plays in high‑resource regions (like Atacama) where AI can coordinate multiple sites
Most companies get this wrong by thinking small and isolated – one site, one revenue stream, one technology. The better way is to design integrated energy systems that combine generation, storage and software from day one.
Where green technology goes from here
Chile’s Dune Plus project shows how fast things move once a country stops treating storage as a nice‑to‑have add‑on and starts treating it as core grid infrastructure.
From a green technology perspective, three trends are clear:
- Storage is the new backbone: Solar and wind are only as valuable as your ability to store and shift them.
- Heavy industry is moving: Codelco’s 100% renewable target by 2030 isn’t a marketing slogan; it’s driving concrete deals and infrastructure.
- Intelligence will decide winners: As more 4‑hour BESS projects come online, AI‑driven optimisation – forecasting, dispatch, maintenance – becomes the main performance differentiator.
If you’re planning your own journey toward low‑carbon, reliable energy – whether you’re a miner, manufacturer, data‑centre operator or large‑scale developer – this is the moment to stop thinking in megawatts alone and start thinking in systems.
Because the real shift isn’t just from fossil to renewable. It’s from dumb capacity to smart, flexible, data‑driven green infrastructure.
The companies that understand that now will be the ones setting the energy terms for everyone else in the 2030s.