Copec buys a 165 megawatt solar and battery project in Chile from Metlen

A Chile solar and battery project changes hands

Metlen Energy and Metals, an energy company based in Greece, is selling a solar and battery storage project in Chile to Copec, a large energy company in Chile, through a subsidiary called Copec Flux. The project, named Tamarico II, sits in the Atacama Region and pairs a 165 megawatt solar plant with a battery that stores 725 megawatt hours of electricity, a figure that can grow to 925 megawatt hours if Copec builds it out further. Neither company has said what Copec is paying. Metlen and Copec have worked together for 3 years already, and this is not the first finished solar project Copec has bought.

Why Metlen builds projects and then sells them

Metlen describes this sale as part of what it calls an asset rotation strategy. That means Metlen builds a renewable energy project, finishes it and gets it generating power, then sells it to raise money for the next project, instead of holding onto finished projects itself. Nikos Papapetrou, chief executive director of M Reset, the part of Metlen that develops renewable projects, describes Tamarico II as proof that years of work by Metlen in Chile can turn into finished energy infrastructure that other companies want to buy. Arturo Natho, chief executive officer of Copec, describes the purchase as a further step in a plan to build up renewable generation and battery storage that Copec owns, so it can offer more clean energy choices to its customers and add more clean power to the electricity system in Chile.

Tamarico II is the third piece of a fast growing portfolio

Tamarico II is the third large scale solar project Copec has added since 2024. Copec bought Granja Solar, a 123 megawatt plant in the Tarapaca region, in 2024. It bought La Huella, an 87 megawatt plant in the Coquimbo region, in July 2026. Add those 2 plants to the 165 megawatts of Tamarico II, the 145 megawatts of distributed generation plants Copec already runs, and the 30 megawatts it has built under a separate ownership model for customer sites, and the total comes to 550 megawatts, the same total Copec itself states for its solar business once Tamarico II is included.

What happens once the plant is running

Once Tamarico II reaches commercial operation, Copec Flux will run the plant day to day, and a separate part of Copec called Copec Emoac will sell the electricity it produces. Metlen says the project is designed to help balance supply and demand and improve grid flexibility, meaning the battery can store solar power made during the day and release it later when the electricity grid needs it most. That battery can grow from 725 megawatt hours to 925 megawatt hours if Copec chooses to expand it, 200 more megawatt hours of storage than the plant starts with.