Listed firm Aboitiz Power Corporation is accelerating its investment pitch for battery energy storage system (BESS) as added solution in building up the reliability of electricity supply as well as in ensuring stability of power grids, via its 12 projects that will add up 248 megawatts to its overall capacity.

The company said it will shore up its BESS portfolio in the next 10 years to help meet customers’ demand for reliable electricity services - addressing primarily the need for regulating and contingency reserves of the country’s power grids.

As explained by the power firm, “BESS is a type of energy storage system that is capable to storing energy electromechanically,” then it can be connected to the grid or even in small grids and distributed generation systems so end-users can tap into these stored energy at the time that they are rightly needed.

According to Aboitiz Power President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel V. Rubio, “our foray into battery technology is a key component of our 10-year growth strategy;” which the firm also aligns as its contribution to addressing the global energy trilemma intersecting energy security, energy equity and environmental sustainability.

The pioneering venture of the company on BESS installation had been at its Therma Marine Inc. (TMI) power facility in Maco, Davao de Oro in Mindanao grid for 49-megawatt capacity.

‘This will fortify TMI’s capability to support the Mindanao grid, especially during the summer months when there is a limited supply of energy generated by hydropower plants due to lower water levels,” the Aboitiz firm said.

The company noted that the battery storage coupling it had done at its TMI thermal plant takes the form of a “hybrid concept”, because it combines two complementing technologies for seamless and fast energy delivery.

That pilot project, the firm stressed, “will serve as Aboitiz Power’s model for its future battery investments, as well as hybrid renewable energy projects.”

Rubio said battery technology has been presenting “great opportunity for Aboitiz Power to address concerns on the reliability, affordability and sustainability of energy supply,” adding that “by ensuring the stability of our grid, we are responding to the needs of our customers and communities, as well as supporting economic growth.”

With the Department of Energy’s forecast on system peak demand reaching 53,679 megawatts by 2040, it was noted that ensuring grid reliability by providing appropriate and sufficient ancillary services to the power grids will be crucial – and that’s where battery storage could come in as a tailor-fitted solution.

Aboitiz Power said “one of the requirements for maintaining grid stability is ancillary services,” emphasizing then that “in order to maintain the load-generation balance of the system, the grid will require sufficient ancillary services. These are the support services that are necessary to sustain the transmission capacity and energy that are essential in maintaining the power quality, reliability and security of the grid.”