San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. is encouraging other power companies to follow in its footsteps and join in building 5,000 megawatts (MW) of battery energy storage system (BESS) facilities in the country. 

In a report by Business Mirror, SMC Global Power president Ramon Ang said that the BESS facilities would support peak supply requirements and achieve energy security in the coming years. 

The San Miguel Corporation official said that the Philippines would need 5,000 MW of battery storage capacity in order to support power demand during peak and off-peak hours. 

Ang said that SMC is building 1,000 MW of BESS facilities, and they are encouraging other power industry players to put up the rest of the 4,000 MW. 

With peak demand at 13,000 MW, and off-peak at 9,000 MW, excess power can be stored and used during peak hours, allowing for an additional 5,000 MW during the peak demand for a total of 18,000 MW – which in turn would make the country’s supply more stable and cheaper “with blended cost,” Ang said. 

SMC said that the 5,000 MW worth of BESS facilities could bring down power rates by as much as Php 3 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). 

SMC Global Power is expected to complete its 1,000 MW worth of BESS projects this year. The company recently launched its 50 MW BESS project in Limay, Bataan, one of the 32 BESS facilities the company has been working to complete by December this year. 

Ang said that BESS facilities can provide a significant portion of the peak supply, which would allow existing baseload plants to “run continuously and operate more efficiently, resulting in lower electricity costs for Filipino consumers.” 

Furthermore, Ang said that BESS facilities can support the integration of over 5,000 MW of renewable energy sources into the grid, adding that it can store excess energy from traditional and renewable energy sources during periods of low demand “and release it back into the grid when demand increases.”