THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has partnered with Japanese multinational engineering and electronics firm Hitachi Ltd. for a battery-storage project.
Meralco officials said they recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Hitachi for the installation of two units of 1-megawatt (MW) lithium-based battery energy-storage system (Bess) to Meralco’s distribution network.
The 2-MW Bess will be connected to one of Meralco’s Cruz na Daan circuits and will be installed at the utility firm’s former San Rafael Service Center in San Rafael, Bulacan. Construction works have started and commissioning is targeted on January next year, according to Meralco Vice President and Head of Utility Economics Lawrence Fernandez.
Pilot study and data gathering will commence immediately after commissioning, Fernandez added.
The facility will serve as Meralco’s test bed to validate the capabilities of Bess on various distribution grid applications and will be used for the capability building of Meralco engineers on lithium-based grid-scale Bess based from an actual system.
Meralco spokesman Jose Zaldarriaga, for his part, said the emergence of the two-way power flow in the grid and the increasing penetration of intermittent generation sources, such as renewables, called for new solutions in the distribution system.
“Meralco has embarked on its ‘smart grid’ journey and we recognize that energy storage will play a vital role in every facet of the grid, spanning from generation to consumption,” Zaldarriaga said. “This project with Hitachi aims to prepare Meralco for future grid-scale Bess installations and provide an understanding of the interconnection of grid-scale Bess on the distribution network via an actual learning experience and a simulation of its operations.”
This is definitely a breakthrough in the industry and will power more innovation not just for the company, but for the country, as well, he added.
The utility firm aims to be the first distribution-utility firm to deploy a grid-scale Bess in the distribution system in the Philippines to demonstrate the potential of Bess to manage peak demand and energy, improve service reliability and power quality and compensate for the intermittency of renewable generation.
Hitachi is one of the many Japanese companies that signed letters of interest to invest in the Philippines. This was witnessed by President Duterte during his second visit to Japan.
Duterte witnessed the signing between Hitachi Ltd. Representative Executive Officer Koji Tanaka, Meralco Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and Meralco President Oscar Reyes.
Hitachi and Meralco have a relationship that goes back to almost 50 years ago, where Hitachi first supplied one of the oldest power transformers in Meralco’s Tigen Substation.