According to the annual report of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) entitled “Renewable Capacity Statistics 2021” more than 80 percent of all new electricity capacity added in 2020 was renewable. In contrast, total fossil fuel additions fell to 60 GW fin 2020 for the 64 GW recorded in 2019, which as the report noted stresses the continued downtrend of fossil fuel expansion.

IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera says that “2020 marks the start of the decade of renewables” since costs continuously falling, and clean tech markets are growing. It’s an unstoppable trend but more needs to be done if the world is to achieve the Paris Agreement goals of bringing C02 emissions close to zero by 2050.”

Another IRENA report entitled “World Energy Transitions Outlook” says the world needs more technology and innovation to advance the energy transition. The world will have to increase investments in the energy transition by 30 percent to a total of $131 trillion from now to 2050

It’s a conclusion that Morroo Shino president and CEO of Marubeni Asian Power echoes. The head of the Japan-based independent power producer sees two categories that will accelerate our shift from fossil fuels to sustainable, clean power. The first category is investments in proven technologies like wind, solar, and energy storage. The second is increasing investments in rolling out new technologies that can help overcome current challenges in RE development such as solutions for baseload power.

Indeed, more investments are needed to store renewables as only geothermal energy can act as a baseload plant. Energy storage plays a crucial role in our electricity grid and will pave the way for increased renewable energy generation.

Let us keep in mind that most electricity grids virtually have no storage capabilities. In the Philippines, we have the most mature and common storage facilities, that is pumped hydropower, where two reservoirs with different elevations can store extra power. The Kalayaan pump is an example, except it was not originally intended to store renewable energy and presently provides ancillary services to the system.

Recently, San Miguel Corporation’s power arm, SMC Global Power Holdings Corp announced that it will be spending more than a billion dollars to build new battery energy storage facilities with a rated capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW). SMC said that 31 new battery energy storage units are already underway with some storage facilities already in the advanced stages of completion.

The company said that the immediate goal of building the facilities is to address power quality issues as the projects will be used as a regulation reserve ancillary service by our grid operator, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

Having more battery energy storage systems (BESS) bodes well for the Philippines. BESS stores energy during off-peak times while the battery supplies power during peak periods, thus providing frequency regulation and voltage control to the power system. This is over and above its use as a generation resource. Because of its nature, it can provide energy at 100% capacity factor. Think of your mobile phones – even if the charge goes down, it still delivers the same energy and capacity. Of course, eventually, you will need to recharge the battery of your phone.  This is the same what happens when batteries provide energy to the grid.

BESS is also the optimum solution to problems of storing energy from renewable sources as it can also discharge when more power is needed in central, de-central, and off-grid situations. It is exceptionally useful for our faraway provinces or off-grid areas.

Plus, battery energy storage also reduces the need for both peak generation capacity and transmission and distribution capacity upgrades. It also lowers greenhouse gas emissions.

Those are just the operational benefits of a battery energy storage system. There are also social and economic benefits to be gained. For one, the ability to shift demand to off-peak results in energy bill saving and reduces the need for dispatching expensive peaking generators during peak time. There are significant savings on fuel bills In hybrid systems where diesel generating sets operate alongside BESS and renewable energy.

And more importantly, in renewable energy, battery energy storage systems address the challenges of dealing with the intermittency of renewables. In the words of ADB senior energy specialist Atsumasa Sakai,“Mega battery energy storage systems are one technology that holds significant promise for increasing the share of renewable energy available for the grid, and for energy consumers.”

Unfortunately, we lack ancillary services in the Philippines. Data from the Department of Energy (DOE) shows that a total of 2,604 MW have been identified as required ancillary service but to date only 727 MW are deemed confirmed ancillary services.

NGCP in a recent senate hearing admitted that the grid operator could not contract firm AS reserves due to the lack of available capacity. So, SMC’s foray in BESS is beneficial in closing the gap between our grid’s needed ancillary services and available capacity in the market.

It would also be helpful if we have independent platform for ancillary services. One that’s transparent and inclusive, meaning a platform that includes all ancillary services as long as they meet safety and security requirements. NGCP had plans of having its own ancillary procurement platform but it yet has to push through.

BESS has so much to offer us both on renewable energy development and the economic and operational side. But as experts have been saying, when it comes to renewable energy development, more support is needed in the policy framework. In the case of battery energy storage, much like other developing countries, we need to adopt laws and regulations that would encourage market players to provide ancillary services, or specifically a transparent procurement platform.