ENGIE Chile, a Chile-based power company, has brought BESS Lile into commercial operation as a 142 MW/802 MWh stand-alone system at its Mejillones Energy Complex in the Antofagasta Region. The authorisation for the start was granted by the Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional on 25 September, and the company announced the milestone on 8 October 2026.

The installation behind those figures is made up of 160 battery containers and 40 pieces of electrical support equipment. Because it is a stand-alone system, it operates independently and is connected directly to the grid, so that energy can be stored and then delivered to the National Electricity System as it is needed. A discharge can be sustained for up to five hours, which the company has equated to the consumption of more than 84,000 homes.

The investment in that capacity amounted to $174 million, and it was made on a site that had been prepared for a different purpose. The interconnection substation, the internal areas and the roads of the complex had originally been conceived for an expansion of thermal generation. They have now been given a new use by BESS Lile, and the company regards this reuse as one of the main features of the project.

The point was taken up by Juan Villavicencio, the CEO of ENGIE Chile, who said that "the entry into operation of BESS Lile represents a new step in the transformation we are driving in Mejillones." He added, "This project shows that the energy transition also means using infrastructure efficiently and adapting it to the new needs of the system."

The transformation to which he referred had begun on 31 December, when the company disconnected units CTM1 and CTM2 after almost 30 years of operation. It also began to convert Infraestructura Energética Mejillones (IEM) to run on natural gas, and that plant is now awaiting its own entry into commercial operation. The coal units Central Termoeléctrica Andina (CTA) and Central Termoeléctrica Hornitos (CTH) are to cease operating at a later date, in a gradual exit from coal that has been designed to safeguard the stability and security of the grid. Storage has been advancing alongside those closures, for BESS Lile is the fifth storage system that the company has brought into commercial operation during 2026. Villavicencio said that the milestone "allows us to reach 803 MW of installed battery capacity", and with it the first stage of the conversion of the Mejillones complex has been completed.

ENGIE Chile is a power company that runs thermal generation and battery storage in Chile, and it has committed itself to decarbonising its energy matrix.