Philippines' AboitizPower breaks ground on 60-MW Cebu BESS project

The facility will provide reserve services when operations start in 2027.

AboitizPower has started construction of the 60-megawatt Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Naga City, Cebu, to strengthen grid reliability and support growing energy demand in the central Philippines.

The standalone facility, located within the Naga Power Plant Complex in Colon village, will provide contingency and regulating reserve services to help the grid respond to fluctuations in electricity supply and demand, with commercial operations scheduled for 2027.

The company said in a statement that the project marks the transformation of the Naga Power Plant Complex from thermal power generation to energy storage.

Initially built by the National Power Corporation in the 1980s, the facility was acquired by AboitizPower in 2018 through the government's privatisation programme.

Its coal- and diesel-fired generating units have since been decommissioned and demolished.

“It reflects our efforts to strengthen the energy system by investing in people, infrastructure, and technology to enhance the flexibility, resilience, and reliability of the grid,” said Celso C. Caballero III, Transition Business Group President of AboitizPower.