Silicon Valley energy storage firm expanding Philippine operations

MANILA, Philippines — Silicon Valley-based energy storage company Amber Kinetics is expanding its manufacturing base in the Philippines as it braces for the commercial launch of its flywheel energy storage system (ESS) in the Asia-Pacific region amid the rapid development of renewable energy (RE).

The firm is shoring up its investment in its Philippine base by $2 million to double the capacity of its existing flywheel ESS manufacturing facility, Amber Kinetics corporate communications head Roberto Kanapi said in an interview with The STAR.

“We are looking at an additional capex of $2 million for the plant expansion, which will be completed in 2022,” he said.

“The area has been secured. The building is already in place. We have already started importing – two or three equipment already installed. By middle of year next year, that should be running. And by the end of next year, it should be fully operational,” Kanapi said.

Amber Kinetics first set up its manufacturing, sales and development team in the Philippines in 2018, investing close to $5 million mainly on the manufacturing plant in Sto. Tomas, Batangas.

Earlier this year, Amber Kinetics secured a P750 million loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to help mobilize the production, expansion, and distribution of its flywheel energy storage.

The need to expand the plant’s capacity is part of its commercialization plan for its breakthrough flywheel technology, an innovation that efficiently stores kinetic energy by a spinning steel rotor enclosed in a vacuum container.

“We’ve been on a very low profile over the last two years because we were trying to complete our manufacturing systems, now we feel we can go commercial already,” Kanapi said.

The company has so far received strong interest and anticipated strong demand for the flywheel ESS to support the massive rollout of variable RE power projects.

“While we are already expanding into the second plant, there are already resources going around, identifying possible location for the third plant, not necessarily in the Philippines, but also in other countries,” Amber Kinetics manager for sales Herman Reyes said.

For its commercialization initiatives, the Silicon Valley-based company is eyeing to roll out the flywheel ESS not only in the Philippines, but also in the Asia-Pacific region as well, Amber Kinetics business development director for Asia-Pacific Ramon del Rosario said.

Australia is a priority country for its flywheel technology given its strong renewable energy push.

“We have installations now in Australia. We have pending installations possibly in Greece and Japan. If its proven there as well, it will roll out eventually to other destinations. We have taken some initiatives in Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, but given the pandemic, it’s a bit difficult,” he said.

Amid the strong interest, the company has also received numerous inquiries from the Middle East, Del Rosario said.