Finnish energy solutions provider Wärtsilä has commissioned two large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in the Philippines. Universal Power Solutions, a subsidiary of vertically-integrated Philippine power company SMC Global Power, had awarded the contract to Wärtsilä in 2020.
The projects included a 20 MW/20 MWh BESS at a renewable power hub in Toledo and a 40 MW/40 MWh BESS at Limay in Bataan, both of which were commissioned by the Finnish company in May 2021. SMC Global is spending over USD1 billion to simultaneously build 31 new battery energy storage facilities nationwide, with a rated capacity of 1,000 MW. The aforementioned BESSs are a part of the target, wherein the firm plans on improving power quality throughout the grid system and facilitate integration of renewable power sources into the country’s generation portfolio.
The two projects have been built using GridSolv Max, Wärtsilä’s standardised modular and flexible energy storage solution that it launched last year, while the battery system is driven by the company’s global energy management system (GEMS), a smart software platform that monitors, controls and optimises energy assets on both the site and portfolio levels. The BESSs will help stabilise the grid and prevent rotating brownouts.
These projects are a part of the larger Philippine target to increase renewable energy capacity to more than 15 GW by 2030. Since 2019, the Philippines government has begun a process of integrating energy storage into its electric power industry, with focus on building more grid-connected energy storage systems.
