What is the future of Bess in Latin America?

To provide a view of what is to come, AMI breaks down the status and opportunities of BESS in main Latin American markets. Chile passed an energy storage and electromobility bill in late 2022, making stand-alone storage projects profitable for operators.

Does Mexico have a front-of-the-meter Bess market?

Mexico’s front-of-the-meter BESS market is practically nonexistent. BESS is not defined by law but rather by the market. Storage projects are forced to register as an active power plant (“central electrica”) and be represented by a market participant, in this case, a generator (e.g., IPP).

How much does Bess cost?

The cost of BESS has fallen significantly over the past decade, with more precipitous drops in recent years: This is nearly a 70% reduction in three years, owing to falling battery pack prices (now as low as $60-70/kWh in China), increased deployment, and improved efficiency.

Will a PPA add Bess in Puerto Rico?

Under ASAP, IPPs with existing PPAs with Puerto Rico’s Power Authority (PREPA) would add BESS at their locations “on an accelerated basis,” leading to an estimated 380 MW of additional contracted BESS capacity by 2026. 3 Peru has no existing BESS regulation and is currently evaluating how to move forward with battery storage projects.

How will Bess be compensated in 2021?

Colombia’s BESS tender in 2021, won by Canadian Solar, was a good step forward, but there is still no clear regulation on how stand-alone BESS will be compensated. Regulators are debating whether to handle storage as a transmission or generation asset, given its flexibility.

Should Bess storage be paired with large solar assets?

The Dominican Republic’s National Energy Commission (CNE) issued a resolution in February 2023 that requires BESS storage to be paired with large solar assets. However, the renumeration is not yet clear and developers are concerned about interconnection delays for their BESS assets.