The President of the Philippines, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. led the inauguration of the San Miguel Global Power Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facility in Limay, Bataan last week.
The 50MW battery energy storage facility in Bataan is among one of the company's 32 facilities with a combined capacity of 1,000MWh that it is building and targeting to complete by the end of this year. SMC Global Power's 1000MW/1000MWh energy storage portfolio is said to be the first and largest within the Southeast Asia region.
"Introducing a storage component into the overall energy infrastructure provides the crucial support mechanism that shall optimize these resources, and make them more efficient and reliable," said President Marcos, commending the project in his inaugural speech.
"This technology [BESS] is carving a distinct path towards a more energy-secure and sustainable future for the country. It is clean, it is zero-emission, zero-water extraction, no noise pollution. Given the increasing generation of renewable energy, it is vital then that we advance and incorporate energy storage systems, or ESS, in our overall energy infrastructure."
In his speech, President Marcos added that the Philippines Government is committed to improving the policy and regulatory framework for the renewable energy (RE) industry, especially for the ESS technology.
"The Department of Energy is currently working on an improved and expanded version of our ESS policy," he added.
RELATED: Fluence commissions first phase of 470MWh energy storage portfolio in the Philippines
Earlier this year, SMC Global Power, one of the oldest conglomerates in the Philippines announced its plans to ramp up investments in its renewable energy portfolio.
BESS can have a transformative impact on the Philippine economy and the lives of Filipinos, said Ramon Ang, CEO of San Miguel Corp.
"Equally important, our facilities combined can support the integration of over 5,000MW of renewable power sources into the grid," Ang added.
Fluence Energy Inc. (Fluence), along with SMCGP has deployed 570MW energy storage projects across 18 sites in the Philippines. These projects will provide critical grid stability services throughout the National Transmission Network in the Philippines including reserve power, frequency response, and voltage regulation.