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State of charge: energy storage in Latin America and the Caribbean

Energy storage can bring many benefits to electricity systems, including enhanced grid reliability, efficiency, and flexibility. It will also be a key enabler of mass decarbonization and climate change mitigation, facilitating the expansion of variable renewable energy sources such as wind and solar while ensuring grid security. However, energy storage deployment in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is still nascent. This publication examines the current and potential future roles for various energy storage technologies in LAC grids. It describes the main energy storage technologies being used internationally and the status of storage technologies in LAC, highlighting emblematic projects. The publication also seeks to identify the most promising applications of each of these technologies in different LAC contexts and provide recommendations on the regulatory and policy changes that would be required to facilitate greater energy storage uptake in the region.