Argentina's Grid Storage Build Gains CATL Office
Two Central Puerto projects totaling 1,025 MWh are under construction, with commissioning waiting on delayed transformers from China.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Energy
CATL has opened a commercial and technical office in Buenos Aires staffed for sales, engineering and project management. The company is supplying lithium iron phosphate batteries to two Central Puerto storage projects totaling 1,025 MWh, a development that is operational and under construction rather than theoretical.
Why it matters
The move gives a major battery maker a local base as Argentina builds grid-scale storage under the AlmaGBA and AlmaSADI programmes. Storage of this size lets grid operators shift power across hours, a capability that becomes more important as intermittent generation grows.
Both projects use CATL lithium iron phosphate batteries with five-hour duration, meaning each megawatt of power is paired with five megawatt-hours of stored energy. The Nuevo Puerto project is 150 MW/750 MWh, and the Central Costanera project is 55 MW/275 MWh, for a combined 1,025 MWh. The timing of commissioning remains uncertain because the transformers needed to connect the batteries to the grid have not yet arrived.
The players
CATL
Contemporary Amperex Technology, a Chinese battery maker that has shipped over 330 GWh of energy storage batteries globally and now operates a Buenos Aires commercial and technical office.
Central Puerto
An Argentine power generator developing the Nuevo Puerto and Central Costanera storage projects with CATL batteries.
Edenor
An Argentine electricity distributor holding a 15-year supply contract for the Nuevo Puerto project.
Edesur
An Argentine electricity distributor that the Central Costanera project serves.
The details
Lithium iron phosphate is a battery chemistry that uses iron and phosphate in place of more costly metals, and it is widely used in stationary storage. Five-hour duration means a battery can discharge at its rated power for five hours before it is depleted, which suits daily shifts of solar and wind output to evening demand. The batteries for both projects are installed, so the remaining work is commissioning, which requires transformers to step voltage up for connection to the grid. Those transformers are delayed in transit from China, and that delay, not the batteries, is what currently gates energisation.
Timeline
June 2026: CATL shipped over 330 GWh of energy storage batteries globally.
End of 2026: Central Puerto plans to energise the Nuevo Puerto project.
January 2027: Central Puerto plans to energise the Central Costanera project.
The Tech Race
Under the AlmaGBA programme, 713 MW of storage has been awarded, and the Central Puerto projects are part of that pipeline now moving into construction. CATL's Buenos Aires office places the company alongside other suppliers competing for the awarded projects, which total about 15 GWh of CATL-linked storage across Latin America.
Grid-scale storage of this kind smooths the supply of electricity between generation and demand, which can reduce reliance on fossil-fuel peaking plants at busy hours. Households and businesses in areas served by Edenor and Edesur would feel the effect only once the projects are energised, and no firm commissioning date has been confirmed.
The takeaway
Storage projects with batteries already installed now wait on transformers, so the next signal is whether Nuevo Puerto reaches energisation before the end of 2026. Watch whether Central Puerto confirms or revises the January 2027 date for Central Costanera once the transformers clear transit.
What happens next
Central Puerto plans to energise the Nuevo Puerto project before the end of 2026 and the Central Costanera project in January 2027, though both dates depend on the delayed transformers arriving.
Further reading
For broader context on how grid-scale battery projects are reshaping power systems, see the Energy section.
