San Miguel power unit signs P40-b financing deals for energy storage

By Alena Mae S. Flores – November 1, 2023, 7:45 pm
from manilastandard.net

Ramon Ang

Universal Power Solutions, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMGP), signed financing agreements worth P40 billion for its battery energy storage system (BESS) projects.

SMGP said in a report to the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx) the financing would be divided into two tranches of P28 billion for tranche A and P12 billion for tranche B.

The company, in its capacity as shareholder of UPSI, said it also entered into such relevant agreements as sponsor and shares security grantor of UPSI in the project financing.

SMGP is building a nationwide BESS network which is seen as critical to improving power quality and helping power the country’s clean energy transition with a combined capacity of 1,000 megawatt-hours (mWh) estimated to cost $1 billion.

It is building 32 battery storage stations, the first and largest network in the country, and among the largest integrated battery storage networks in the world.

The BESS projects, targeted to be completed this year, is part of SMC’s and SMGP’s aggressive medium-term goal for power system decarbonization and resilience.

San Miguel Corp. president and chief executive Ramon Ang said during the inauguration ceremonies of the BESS facilities in Bataan early this year that BESS is an important global innovation in the energy sector, one that would enable stable and reliable power to reach even far-off areas.

“Our BESS facilities will support the country’s power grid by storing excess power from existing plants, and injecting this power back, when and where it is needed, within milliseconds—ensuring power quality is stable, and reaches users all over the country,” Ang said.

Ang said the BESS network could enable the integration of capacity from small-to-medium scale renewable energy sources into the grid and help encourage more investments in renewables.

“With battery energy storage, we can solve the problem with most renewable energy sources, which is intermittence, due to the irregularity or seasonality of solar and wind power sources. Over the next couple of years, we estimate the integration of up to 5000 MW of renewable power into the grid, due largely to our BESS facilities,” Ang said.