AboitizPower installing battery energy storage to boost sale of backup power
By Lenie Lectura – July 19, 2018
from Business Mirror
ABOITIZ Power Corp. plans to install and commission a 48-megawatt battery energy storage to beef up its ability to sell backup power.
AboitizPower Chief Operating Officer Emmanuel Rubio said preliminary work is under way. “We are doing a study on it technically. We have to work closely with NGCP [National Grid Corp. of the Philippines], as well. If all goes well, we can have it ready by 2019,” he said.
The battery energy storage will be put up within one of the power firm’s power plants, the location of which has yet to be identified.
The Energy Regulatory Commission earlier classified battery energy storage as a new source of ancillary services, frequency control ancillary services, particularly contingency reserve, and secondary reserve.
Across the world, regulators and system operators are increasingly turning to advanced energy storage as a solution for ancillary and other grid services due to its flexibility, speed of response, scalability and rapidly decreasing costs.
“What we would like to do is to be better in providing contingency reserve, and we’re looking at battery as a solution to actually be better, that would enhance our ability to offer contingency reserves given that we already have that contract today,” Rubio explained.
Ancillary services constitute standby power supply that can be tapped in case the regular supply falls short of the requirement.
Aboitiz has sealed a number of ancillary agreements with NGCP in the past.
Ancillary services are meant to support the transmission of capacity and energy from resources to loads while maintaining reliable operation of the transmission system. These services are essential in ensuring reliability in the operation of the transmission system and, consequently, in the reliability of the electricity supply in the Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao grids.
Regulating reserve is the capacity allocated to cover inter- and intra-hour variations in demand, while contingency reserve refers to the capacity allocated to cover the loss or failure of a generating unit or a transmission line in order to maintain balance between generation and load.
