On Monday, Chilean President José Antonio Kast presided over the inauguration of Elena, a battery storage plant built by the Spanish company Grenergy in the municipality of María Elena in Chile’s Antofagasta Region. The project is the largest battery plant in the Americas and is part of the Oasis de Atacama initiative, which involves a total investment of US$2.5 billion.
Also in attendance were Senate President Paulina Núñez; Energy Minister Ximena Rincón; Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation Minister Ximena Lincolao; Regional Presidential Delegate Katherine López; the mayor of María Elena, Viviana Cuello; Regional Governor Ricardo Díaz; InvestChile’s Head of Investment Promotion, Salvatore Di Giovanni; and members of Congress, mayors and officials from the Antofagasta Region.
The company noted that this is its most ambitious project to date, already comprising 624 containers and 6,240 batteries, and that its construction has mobilized more than 400 workers. The plant is part of the Oasis de Atacama platform, a pioneering model integrating solar generation and energy storage, with 2.5 GW of solar capacity and 14.1 GWh of storage.
During the ceremony, Grenergy also announced GR Data, its new data center development platform in Chile. The initiative includes a 1 GW portfolio of technological capacity, with its first project, Atacama Data, a campus specializing in artificial intelligence training, to be located near Elena. The project will begin with 400 MW of IT capacity, scalable to 1 GW. It will be powered by renewable energy and will operate without water consumption.
This initiative will be complemented by the Polpaico Campus Norte and Alto Jahuel Campus Sur projects, which will add 600 MW of IT capacity, further reinforcing Chile’s position as a future regional hub for artificial intelligence, advanced digital services and world-class data centers.
