Battery energy source eyed to boost North Luzon power

BAGUIO CITY --  Renewable power producer SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP) will construct a 20-megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS) within the Magat Hydro Electric Power Plant (HEPP) straddled in the provinces of Ifugao and Isabela.

“The facility will be used to boost SNAP’s ancillary services and standby power supply that can be tapped in case the regular supply falls short of the requirement,” said SNAP Group President and CEO Joseph Yu in a press release issued on Monday.

The Dept. of Energy, in its numerous information-education campaigns in Baguio, has reiterated its support for energy sources that can augment the country’s power supply.

In one of the DOE events, the department presented the company that manufactures battery energy storage as an alternative way of keeping excess power, when the supply is at its height and using the battery to augment power, in cases of power falling short.

Yu said the company’s project, a USD28-million battery energy storage system (BESS) facility, will add 20 megawatts more to the Luzon grid’s power supply and the company’s 633.5-megawatt Northern Luzon capacity from Magat (HEPP), Binga HEPP in Itogon, Benguet, Ambuklao HEPP in Bokod, Benguet, and Mariz HEPP in Isabela.

He said SNAP’s Board of Directors has approved the conduct of the feasibility study for the BESS in 2019. Construction is set to start in 2020 and is targeted to operate by 2022.

“You can think of battery energy storage as a giant power bank,” Yu said.

“With BESS, we will have a battery facility that is connected to the grid, where we can draw power from when necessary.”

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

Ancillary services are meant to support the transmission of capacity and energy from resources to loads, while maintaining reliable operation of the transmission system. --PNA