Aboitiz Power Corp., through its subsidiary Therma Marine Inc. (TMI), recently held the ceremonial switch-on of Southeast Asia’s first 49-megawatt (MW) hybrid battery energy storage system (BESS) built on a floating platform in Maco, Davao de Oro to help address the variable nature of renewable energy.
“This groundbreaking initiative marks a significant stride towards revolutionizing the Philippines’ energy landscape,” said AboitizPower Thermal chief operating officer Ronaldo Ramos in a statement.
Ramos said the hybrid BESS is an important addition to the growing and dynamic energy needs of the country, especially with the increase in intermittent renewable energy sources, the implementation of a power reserves market and the switch-on of the Mindanao-Visayas interconnection project, which facilitates the trading of power reserves between connected islands.
“The power barge that TMI currently operates has been in Maco, Davao de Oro since 1994. It was installed as part of the solution to address the then power crisis in Mindanao. Thirty years later, who would’ve thought that we’d still find ourselves in the same mission of supporting our beloved Mindanao, this time with an innovative twist and a different need to address – the reserve requirements of the grid,” Ramos said.
A BESS is a type of energy storage that uses a set of batteries to store electrical energy from the grid and released when needed to augment supply or improve the quality of the electricity in the system.
The hybrid BESS will complement TMI’s existing diesel engines by providing ancillary services, a system meant to sustain transmission capacity and grid stability, thereby helping secure an uninterrupted provision of good quality electricity.
BESS stores much-needed electricity for contingency or dispatchable reserves to replenish a reduction in generation output or even reactive support to ensure power quality.