SMC Unit Nears Completion Of BESS Facilities
BY LENIE LECTURA – APRIL 22, 2021
from Business Mirror
Four of 31 Battery Energy Storage System facilities being put up by San Miguel Corporation’s power arm, SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., in Masinloc, Zambales; Malita, Davao; Maco, Davao de Oro, and Jasaan, Misamis Oriental.
SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. (SGPHC), the power arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), would soon complete its 1,000megawatt (MW) battery energy storage projects nationwide.
SGPH has lined up 31 Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facilities worth $1 billion. The power firm nears completion of the facilities, which would be located in several strategic sites from Luzon to Mindanao where power quality mitigations are required. Once completed, these will improve power quality nationwide and fuel the country’s transition to clean energy.
SMC President Ramon Ang said some of the facilities are now in the advanced stages of completion. Four of 31 facilities are located in Masinloc Zambales; Malita, Davao; Maco, Davao de Oro, and Jasaan, Misamis Oriental.
The BESS facilities are currently undergoing testing and commissioning.
The company completed in 2018 the very first battery energy storage facility in the country in its power plant in Masinloc, Zambales. It has since embarked on a project of such historic scale using a relatively new technology capable of improving power quality throughout the grid system and facilitate integration of renewable power sources into the country’s generation portfolio.
“Our ongoing investment into battery energy storage facilities will greatly benefit power consumers all over the country, because this will mean that even faraway provinces or areas, can have the same stable and good quality power supply as everywhere else,” said Ang.
“This means that provinces and islands will have better and more equal opportunities for industrialization and economic growth. If previously some areas could not attract investments because of unstable or poor power supply, battery energy storage will make power supply more stable and reliable. Battery storage will significantly reduce imbalances in the grid that cause power interruptions and brownouts.”
Ang said the technology will boost flexibility of the country’s power grid and improve power quality by removing excess power and injecting required power at strategic areas within the grid within millisecond level.
This ensures power quality is maintained and that it reaches power users all over the country. “This can even support equal-opportunity industrialization in many provinces where historically, no industrial plants would locate because of poor power quality.”
Moreover, Ang said BESS can facilitate the integration of intermittent renewable sources such as solar and wind into the grid.
“Our country’s challenge with renewables is that it is intermittent, because of its nature. But with strategically located battery storage facilities, this can be mitigated and renewables can become more viable. This will help the transition to more renewable sources of energy in the future.”
The BESS is also meant to be used as regulating reserve type of ancillary service for the country’s major power transmission firm, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, to specifically mitigate grid frequency fluctuation and voltage issues.
