The first lithium battery-based energy storage facility in the Philippines is to be built by US-based firm AES.
The 10MW facility will be installed by the power technology developer next door to its 600MW Masinloc coal plant in Zambales.
AES said the battery storage project would enhance grid reliability and eventually lower power costs, which are some of the highest in the region because of the country’s poor generation capacity.
Last year, AES president Andres Gluski said the company was in talks to install lithium-ion battery storage facilities in the central Visayas region, but that has not yet come to fruition.
“Energy storage will help add to the low reserve capacity of the Philippines. It will also help store energy coming from the new renewable energy plants that will go online and help ease challenges associated with an island-based grid system,” said AES Philippines managing director Neeraj Bhat.
The system will go some way to helping the country’s residents maintain power during tropical cyclones. Last month, for example, a tenth of the population was left without power when typhoon Lando swept the country.