Colbún held his Wednesday his Ordinary Shareholders Boardwhere the investment policy for this and next year was approved, which contemplates to allocate as CAPEX an amount for US $ 650 million. The focus, said the general manager of the Matte group generator, José Ignacio Escobarwill be in the development of two storage systems projects through batteries, known as Bess (for the acronym Battery Energy Storage System).
“The bulk of expenses will be this year, approximately half and halfbasically in solar cell, which is the battery storage project in Arica, and the Diego Almagro battery project, which is a project of similar characteristics, ”said Escobar after participating in the instance.
Along these lines, the generator reported that she signed a contract with the E-Storage storage technology company, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar, to provide a battery system for 228 MW of power, for the project located in the commune of Diego de Almagro, Atacama region.
The initiative, which includes an investment around US $ 200 million, will begin construction in June and are expected to enter operations in December 2026.
For solar cell, the firm obtained an agreement with Tesla, for the same power and generation capacity, but for a greater amount of investment, of US $ 260 million.
Yet, Colbún’s focus is part of a strategic plan in which they seek to invest US $ 2.5 billion around 2030adding about 4,000 MW to the generation portfolio.
Hernán RodríguezPresident of the Board of Directors, highlighted the advances already registered by the firm, after inaugurating in March the Horizonte Wind Parkwith 816 MW -the one with the greatest capacity in Chile, for any technology -, located in the commune of Taltal, after the acquisition of the San Juan and Totoral wind farms. “Both parks, added to horizon, They make Colbún today the largest wind operator in Chile with more than 1,000 MW of installed capacity”Said Rodríguez.
To this he added that the ongoing investments in storage projects position Colbún “as One of the energy companies with more storage capacity currently in Chile”, With about 700 MW.
-Changes to the marginalist model
While Escobar raised as “fundamental“Close the regulatory processes so that the battery systems also participate in the complementary services market, since” as the decarbonization process follows and the thermal machines are left mainly, not only it is required to have energy, but it is required to have power, and it is necessary other regulatory discussions that have to accelerate.
Among them, he mentioned the need to review the marginalist modelwhich sets a price scheme determined by the variable cost of the most expensive unit that is operating at each time within the market spot.
“We believe that it is time to look with a little more depth and speed If indeed the marginalist model is the model that best reflects the current technologies and the current price systems we have”Said Escobar.
“I think that It is a discussion that must be acceleratedbecause clearly the acceleration and penetration of renewables, particularly photovoltaic and now batteries, the truth is that it will put a lot of pressure on the price model, ”he added.
While it recognized that it is a long -term debateColbún CEO emphasized that the goal of having a new system for 2030 can be late.
“I think that In 2030 the renewable penetration level will be of such magnitude, that it will not probably be reflecting the necessary price signals To follow this necessary investment train. So, we would like it to go before. The question is how quickly something as fundamental and as deep can be accelerated as changing the model. It will be a long discussion, ”he emphasized.
However, Escobar said that there is no model to imitate, since “in the world there is very little comparative experience, there are not many countries that have the level of penetration that Chile has. Then, We are a little writing the story of what regulatory models are going to be of future price systems ”.
The CEO also mentioned as a necessary regulatory change the review of “all the permissions systemwhich is a country voice that we have to update and reform for uncertainty, for the deadlines and for the complexity that it has today ”.
