Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. plans to put up a battery energy storage manufacturing facility that can serve the domestic and export markets, its top executive said Monday.
“I also want to get into battery storage manufacturing using nickel-iron, so I won’t have to buy. I will produce it and even export it,” SMC president Ramon Ang said.
Batteries using nickel deliver higher energy with a bigger storage capacity at a cheaper cost.
Ang said the company was putting up battery energy storage systems with a total capacity of 1,000 megawatts that could “capture the up and down swing of power plants.”
These will come from 31 facilities with investments of about $1 billion.
“We now have 500 MW, and I hope to reach 1,000 MW. We can sell that to factories, steel mills,” he said.
The SMC BESS projects are designed to minimize wastage by storing and redistributing excess capacity to ensure even underserved regions can have the same sufficient, reliable electricity enjoyed by larger cities.
Ang said he planned to offer stored power capacity from BESS at P2 to P3 per kilowatt-hour.
“Batteries will stabilize the system. That will stabilize the grid’s voltage, frequency, peaking requirement,” he said.
He said SMC was still waiting for the rules on BESS from the Department of Energy.
“With the integration of this technology into our electrical grid, we are confident we can improve power quality and address the intermittent nature of renewables. We believe this and other bridge technologies will allow us to truly achieve a just and inclusive transition to a clean energy future that will not only sustain our economic recovery and growth but will also benefit both our environment and many Filipinos,” Ang said earlier.
SMC’s BESS facilities are seen to be the largest initiative of its kind in Southeast Asia.
Ang said its BESS network would be vital to ensuring reliable power supply nationwide even in far-off areas.
“With this, provinces and regions will have equal access to power and, therefore, an equal chance to attract investors,” Ang said.
“Bringing electricity to power-challenged regions will help uplift the lives of more Filipinos, who will finally have access not just to basic electricity, but also opportunities and jobs brought about by electrification,” he said.
He said BESS facilities would be crucial to the country’s broader use of renewable energy.
“Currently, the main challenge of renewables is intermittence, or the unreliable nature of renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydropower. Battery technology will enable renewable capacity to be stored and deployed even when solar or wind farms or hydropower plants are down,” he said.