Aboitiz Power to build $28 million battery storage

MANILA, Philippines — SN Aboitiz Power Group (SNAP), the joint venture of SN Power of Norway and Aboitiz Power Corp., plans to construct a $28-million battery energy storage system (BESS) at its Magat hydro electric power plant (HEPP).

The facility will be used to boost the company’s ancillary services and standby power supply that can be tapped in case the regular supply falls short of the requirement.

In a statement, SNAP said its board approved to conduct a feasibility study in 2019 for BESS in Magat.

Construction will start in 2020 with commercial operations expected by 2022 once the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) approves the facility’s ancillary services procurement agreement (ASPA).

Ancilliary services (AS) are necessary to support the transmission of capacity and energy from resources to loads while maintaining reliable operation of the transmission system in accordance with good utility practice and the grid code.

AS is a system requirement to ensure grid system reliability, security and affordability of the supply.

“You can think of battery energy storage as a giant power bank,” SNAP president and CEO Joseph Yu said. “With BESS, we will have a battery facility that is connected to the grid where we can withdraw power from when necessary.”

The Energy Regulatory Commission classified BESS as a new source of frequency control ancillary services.

The company has included BESS in its scope because of the rise of variable renewable energy in the country, increasing frequency variability to the grid which requires more balancing power supply in the system.

SNAP has been providing the NGCP with AS from its impounding hydropower plants.

It owns and operates the 360-MW to 380-MW Magat hydro on the border of Isabela and Ifugao, the 8.5-MW Maris hydro in Isabela, the 105-MW Ambuklao hydro in Benguet and the 140-MW Binga hydro also in Benguet.