San Miguel Unveils 50 MW BESS in Philippines in 1 GW/1 GWh Roll-out

SMC Global Power Holdings Corp, the power arm of Philippines-based conglomerate San Miguel Corp which is running behind the plan of delivering a 1 GW/1 GWh fleet of battery energy storage systems (BESS) by the end of last year, continues to launch big batteries across 32 sites in the Philippines, that will integrate up to 5 GW of renewables into the island nation’s grid.

SMC unveiled a 50 MW BESS in Limay, Philippines, as part of its nationwide 1 GW/1 GWh roll-out. Limay is one of 32 battery sites the group is building across the islands of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. As per the firm statement,It expects to deliver all of the projects by the end of this year.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,speaking during the inauguration  of San Miguel Corporation’s (SMC) Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Bataan,said, “BESS technology will support our goal of generating 35% of our total energy requirements from renewables by 2030.”

San Miguel’s battery storage portfolio gained momentum from the year 2018, when it acquired the country’s first BESS project – the 10 MW Masinloc Power Plant. In January 2022, the conglomerate had informed that  it was ready to start operating an initial 690 MW of battery storage facilities as part of a plan to deliver a 1 GW BESS fleet by the year’s end.

As per reports last week, San Miguel CEO Ramon S. Ang  has said that the company had already delivered 640 MW of projects,with the remaining to get finished by December of this year. He said,“Government is working to avert a power crisis.But we know it takes time to complete new power facilities. The BESS network is here already and it can provide immediate mitigation to the power crisis.”

San Miguel carried out this project in partnership  with ABB Philippines, Fluence, and Wartsila and its engineering, procurement and construction contractors.

Further, Fluence (Siemens and AES company)  also confirmed the completion of 570 MW, battery-based storage portfolio for SMC Global Power’s 1,000 MW storage fleet in the Philippines. The projects are providing  critical grid-stability services across the  national transmission network in the Philippines, including frequency response, reserve power, and voltage regulation.

“Over the next couple of years, we estimate the integration of up to 5000 MW of renewable power into the grid due largely to our BESS facilities,” said Ang.

Government also has plans to  support  investors in the renewable energy space and provide expetions in rules to promote renewables.

“We will improve the policy and regulatory framework for the renewable energy industry, especially for the ESS technology, to encourage the further development of our fledgling renewables industry,” said the President.

He further revealed that the company has other BESS projects in the pipeline, accounting for 95% of BOI-approved projects, with 2,000 MW total capacity distributed across the country.