Conglomerate San Miguel Corporation is looking to complete 31 battery energy storage systems totaling 1,000 megawatts (MW) by next year to help facilitate the company’s transition from coal to renewable energy and liquefied natural gas. 

During the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting, SMC president Ramon Ang said that 21 BESS projects are targeted for completion by the end of the year, and the remaining by 2023. 

Ang said that SMC’s BESS facilities would ensure stable and reliable power to provinces nationwide, especially in off-grid communities. 

“This is also seen to complement [SMC’s] planned additional investments in renewable energy. It is also investing in new baseload capacities utilizing natural gas to ensure the growing power needs of our developing economy is met over the term.” SMC said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). 

In 2021, SMC through its power arm SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation announced that it would be building BESS facilities located in Masinloc, Zambales; Malita, Davao Occidental; Jasaan, Misamis Oriental; and Maco, Davao De Ore. 

The company was recently cleared by the Energy Regulatory Commission to connect its 20-MW BESS facility in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental to the Visayas Grid. 

In 2020, SMC announced that it will no longer build new coal-fired power plants following the moratorium issued by the Department of Energy.