AES Gener and AES Energy Storage announced the commercial operation of the second energy storage project in Northern Chile, integrating 20 MW of advanced battery-based energy storage with a 544 MW thermal power plant. Both companies are subsidiaries of AES Corp (NYSE: AES).

The project is owned by AES Gener and will operate through its subsidiary, Empresa Electrica Angamos S.A. (Angamos).

The advanced reserve capacity provided by the storage technology will enable the Angamos plant to generate an additional 20 MW of energy at virtually all times throughout the year. As a result, this newly available energy will increase power generation from the Angamos plant by 4 percent.

The storage system was designed, built and operational in 15 months. It is comprised of approximately one million advanced lithium-ion battery cells divided between ten, 2 MW battery containers and five, 4 MW power controls containers. A123 Systems (NASDAQ: AONE) supplied the energy storage systems for the project, and the power controls modules were provided by ABB (NYSE: ABB).

AES Energy Storage worked with AES Gener throughout the design, development, and installation of the Angamos BESS. AES Energy Storage worked with CDEC-SING, AES Gener and its partners to configure the parameters of the advanced reserves product enabling the Angamos BESS to meet the performance requirements of the electrical system operator and respond autonomously within established parameters. The advanced reserves product also features system monitoring, SCADA and integration with other operational systems.

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