Zelestra Seeks Approval For 254-MW Solar Storage Hybrid In Chile

• Spain’s Zelestra files environmental study for €300 million, 254 MW Rinconada Solar plus battery complex near Santiago, aiming for a 2027 ground-break.

Spanish developer Zelestra has submitted a 6,000-page Environmental Impact Study to Chile’s evaluation service, seeking the green light to build the Rinconada Solar hybrid complex on the western fringe of Santiago’s Metropolitan Region. The proposal combines a 254.3-MWdc photovoltaic array with a lithium-ion battery energy-storage system, estimated at US $350 million in capital expenditure.

Sprawled across 272 hectares, the solar field would deploy 385,336 bifacial modules on single-axis trackers, feeding a 33/220-kV substation and 28 medium-voltage transformer centres linked by underground cabling. A separate 6.1-hectare enclave within the site is reserved for the battery plant, designed to firm output during evening demand peaks and mitigate curtailment on Chile’s congested Central-SIC grid. 

If approved, construction would start in July 2027 and run for roughly 24 months, creating 480 peak jobs. The project life is slated at 35 years, during which Zelestra plans to implement an ecological restoration programme for local shrubland and establish a community fund to finance potable-water infrastructure in the adjoining communes of Maipú and Pudahuel.

Rinconada marks Zelestra’s third venture in Latin America after debut projects in Peru and Colombia. Chile remains an attractive market thanks to transparent permitting and a carbon-neutrality goal set for 2050. Yet rapid solar build-out has pushed curtailment to double-digit percentages in some nodes, heightening the value of co-located storage. By pairing four-hour batteries with daytime PV, Zelestra expects to capture premium prices in the evening capacity auctions that Chile’s energy regulator is preparing for 2026.

Financial close is pencilled in for early 2027, contingent on environmental clearance and grid-impact studies now underway with transmission operator Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional. Should the timeline hold, Rinconada could deliver first electrons to the grid before the end of this decade, reinforcing Santiago’s push toward cleaner, more reliable power.