Philippines President Ferdinand ‘Bong Bong’ Marcos Jr has attended the inauguration of the country’s first lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery factory.
The event was held today at StB Giga Factory in the Clark Special Economic Zone in Tarlac, a province about 130km from the national capital Manila.
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The factory is being funded by Australia-headquartered energy transition investment group StB Capital Partners, with operations scheduled to begin in October.
According to StB Giga, the StB portfolio company building it, the plant will have a 1GWh annual production capacity, although the timeline for ramping up to that capacity was not clear.
A statement from the Presidential Communications Office said the factory will be worth a projected investment value of around PHP5 billion (US$89.25 million) into the Philippine economy annually and employ around 2,500 skilled workers.
According to StB Giga’s website, the company produces stationary battery storage products for the residential, commercial and industrial (C&I) and utility-scale market segments. These range from a rack-mounted module suitable for homes and remote telecom sites up to a 1.6MW/3.35MWh containerised battery energy storage system (BESS) solution for utility and microgrid applications. It was not clear from announcements which products or components will be produced at the new factory.
‘Remarkable example’ of private-public partnership
President Marcos described the factory’s inauguration as “a remarkable example of what happens when our national agenda of promoting clean energy intersects with a solid commitment from the private sector.”
“I cannot overstate the importance of this investment,” Marcos Jr said, adding that it signalled to the world that the Philippines “is now ready—to innovate, to lead, to become the go-to destination for high-tech, high-impact investments.”
The production plant is one of a number of investments into manufacturing LFP battery technology, which is used in electric vehicles (EVs) as well as stationary battery storage, being made or considered in Southeast Asia.
Chinese battery maker Gotion broke ground in late 2022 on an LFP cell gigafactory in Vietnam, targeting both stationary and automotive markets, in partnership with Vietnamese battery cell and pack maker and battery-as-a-service company VinES.
Singapore-based subsidiary said in 2022 that it planned to build a battery pack and module gigafactory in Thailand with Thai government-owned oil and gas company PTT.
Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC), another state-owned entity, said in early 2023 that it was exploring opportunities to establish cell manufacturing and energy storage system integration facilities in that country, through an agreement with Malaysian construction engineering group Citaglobal.
Storage a ‘vital’ addition to Philippines energy infrastructure
At the April 2023 inauguration of a large-scale BESS project in the province of Bataan, Marcos Jr described energy storage as a “vital” addition to the country’s power sector and energy infrastructure.
Along with Japan, the Philippines was one of the two most talked-about markets in the Central Asia and Southeast Asia region discussed at Energy Storage Summit Asia 2024, hosted in July in Singapore by our publisher Solar Media.
The Philippines is targeting 35% renewable energy in its energy mix by 2030, 50% by 2040 and continued increases from that point, and while initial investments have focused on making existing thermal power plants more efficient with batteries, renewable energy integration and rural electrification across the archipelago are set to drive BESS installation numbers up.
ESN Premium subscribers can read about a panel discussion on the Philippines market from the event, at which Philippines Department of Energy assistant secretary Mario C. Marasigan confirmed that the government would launch a tender for renewable energy with storage before the end of 2024.
The DOE later offered more details on that auction round, and the national Board of Investments (BOI) in August gave fast-track status to a solar-plus-storage project which could pair as much as 3,500MW of solar PV generation with a 4,500MWh BESS, making it one of the biggest projects of its type in the world.
Infrastructure investor Actis recently joined utility Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and its subsidiary, Solar Philippines New Energy Corporation in investing in the project, Terra Solar.
The DOE has been implementing policy and regulatory changes to the Philippines energy market to accommodate and promote energy storage since early 2023.
