Meralco power generation arm announces second grid-scale BESS project in Philippines

Set to be constructed and brought online in two phases, the first 25MW phase is planned for the start of commercial operation during 2026. The second is targeted for completion the following year, subject to regulatory approvals.

The company sent a brief statement to the media, including Energy-Storage.news, noting that the project will aid the delivery of electricity to users of the grid in the Visayas archipelago where Toledo is located.

MGEN president and CEO Emmanuel V. Rubio said the project was part of the company’s “broader commitment to strengthen the reliability of the grid and accelerate the country’s transition to a cleaner and more sustainable energy future.”

“Battery energy storage will be critical in managing variability in supply and demand, particularly as we integrate more renewable energy into the system.”

Meralco’s first project to feature 4.5GWh BESS

MGEN’s first project to feature battery storage began construction in November 2024. Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos Jr was in attendance at a groundbreaking ceremony for Meralco Terra Solar in Gapan City, near the national capital, Manila.

Meralco Terra Solar was announced as the biggest project in the world to combine solar PV and battery storage when it was proposed in 2022 by Prime Infrastructure Holdings (Prime Infra) and developer Solar Philippines.

Planned to feature 3.5GWp of solar generation and 4.5GWh of BESS, the pair’s joint venture (JV) won a tender to provide 850MW of clean energy to Meralco. The Philippines government fast-tracked its development, granting it a ‘green lane certificate’ for expedited permitting in August 2024.

Following the initial development work, Meralco Renewables subsidiary MGen Renewable Energy (MGreen) bought a controlling interest in SP New Energy Corporation, Solar Philippines’ independent power producer (IPP) arm, which set up the project’s development company Terra Solar Philippines.    

At the time it began construction, the world’s biggest solar-plus-storage project was—and still is—US developer Terra-Gen’s Edwards & Sanborn project in California (875MWdc solar, 3,287MWh BESS), which went online in early 2024.

However, since then, Spanish IPP Grenergy has begun construction on the Oasis de Atacama project in Chile, Latin America. Oasis de Atacama is being built in seven phases and is planned to comprise 2GW of solar PV generation alongside a total 11GWh of batteries.

Elsewhere, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) state-owned renewable energy company Masdar and the Emirates Water & Electricity Co. have partnered on a project in the Middle Eastern country that will pair 5.2MWdc of solar with 19GWh of BESS.

Announced in January, that project, at an as-yet undisclosed location in Abu Dhabi, will enable the round-the-clock 24/7 delivery of 1GW of dispatchable clean power when completed.

Nonetheless, Meralco Terra Solar remains an ambitious project for its scale. While Meralco revealed that the BESS provider for that project will be Chinese manufacturer and integrator Huawei, MGEN did not reveal details this week of technology providers to the latest project.

With the Philippine government having recognised the importance of battery storage in helping integrate renewable energy and enhance the stability of power grids, MGEN’s new project follows developments that include the government’s recent launch of its first auction for renewables paired with energy storage and the buildout of portfolios of BESS by other prominent power companies.

Last week, one of those, Aboitiz Power, announced the start of construction at a 30MW BESS asset, which will hybridise a thermal power plant operated by one of its subsidiaries, also in Cebu.