Philippines geothermal site to add battery storage

Philippines-based Aboitiz Power has announced it will add an unspecified capacity of battery storage to even out the supply of grid electricity from its 458 MW Mak-Ban geothermal power station.

Quoted in a press release on the Aboitiz Power website, Alex Coo, chief operating officer of Aboitiz subsidiary AP Renewables Inc. (APRI), said, “The Bay BESS Project is a groundbreaking milestone, being the first-ever BESS and geothermal hybrid system in the Philippines.”

Aboitiz said the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the BESS has been awarded to the Shandong Electric Engineering Consulting Institute Corp. Ltd., a thermal power company which, according to the China Chamber of Commerce, is currently part of China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corp.

The geothermal site owner, part of Filipino conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures, said the geothermal-BESS hybrid facility, at Barangay Bitin, in Bay, Laguna, will reinforce the Luzon grid.

APRI President Jeffrey Estrella welcomed the EPC contract signing in the Aboitiz Power press release, on Nov. 7, 2024. He said, “We are excited to be the host of this new investment. It contributes to the country’s energy transition and brings additional value to our host communities.”

The Mak-Ban geothermal site was commissioned in 1979 and sold to Aboitiz Power in 2009.