ACEN pursues development of BESS in Vietnam

MANILA, Philippines — ACEN Corp. is pushing forward with the development of Vietnam’s first grid-connected battery energy storage system in partnership with AMI Renewables.

AMI AC Renewables, a joint venture between ACEN and AMI Renewables, , has inked a memorandum of understanding with Honeywell to collaborate on a 7.5-megwatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS) pilot project in Khanh Hoa, Vietnam.

ACEN said the project plans to use a Honeywell energy storage system integrated into a 50-MWp solar farm operated by AMI AC Renewables subsidiary AMI Khanh Hoa.

AMI AC Renewables was awarded a $2.9 million grant by the US Mission Vietnam in 2021 to spearhead and develop the project.

The BESS project aims to demonstrate the commercial viability of battery energy storage in Vietnam and showcase the practical benefits of renewable energy, including its reliability and efficiency.

It also seeks to help Vietnam meet its climate action targets.

“The success of the BESS project at AMI Khanh Hoa will be among the achievements for the bilateral cooperation relationship in technological, technical, and economic development between the US and Vietnam, and help contribute to Vietnam’s target of net zero emissions by 2050,”  AMI AC Renewables CEO Nguyen Nam Thang said.

Since 2017, AMI AC Renewables has been developing and operating renewable energy projects in Vietnam, which include the 252 MW wind project in Quang Binh and the 80 MW solar plants in Khanh Hoa and Dak Lak.

“We look forward to collaborating with AMI AC Renewables to extend renewable energy availability from the Khanh Hoa solar farm beyond hours when there is no sunlight. Honeywell’s BESS Platform improves grid stability and sustainability and decreases costs and carbon footprint by reducing the need for non-renewable baseload power sources,” said Ramanathan Valliyappan, general manager of Honeywell Process Solutions Asia Pacific.

ACEN, the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group, has  about 4,200 MW of attributable capacity from owned facilities in the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam and India.

The company aims to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia, with a goal of reaching 20 gigawatts of renewables capacity by 2030.