San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said 690 megawatts (MW) out of the 1,000 MW of its battery energy storage system (BESS) facilities will be operational early this year.
“By yearend, we will have completed all 31 facilities for a total of 1,000 MW in capacity.
This will help balance power throughout the grid and pave the way for a clean energy future,” said Ramon Ang, SMC president, in a statement.
BESS facilities are also expected to fix power quality issues in the grid and allow the integration of over 3,000 MW of intermittent renewable power sources.
Last September, SMC through its power unit, SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., approved the issuance of additional senior perpetual capital securities of at least $100 million (P5.02 billion).
Proceeds of the fund raising were used primarily for the development of SMC’s 1,313 MW Batangas combined cycle power plant and related assets.
The move came after SMC Global Power announced last July its decision to drop the plans to put up three new clean-coal power plants with a capacity of 1,500 MW in favor of more renewable energy projects.
Apart from the project in Batangas, SMC Global Power is also constructing solar plants equipped with battery storage facilities at 10 locations throughout the country that are set to be operational by 2023.
Based on data from the Department of Energy, as of October 2020, SMC’s power arm has the second biggest share in installed generating capacity in the entire country at 4,856 MW equivalent to 20.7 percent of the total 23,409.7 MW.
