With rising fuel prices, hybrid vehicles have increased in popularity in recent years. Just look around any major road or highway and you’d surely spot a number of hybrid cars and electric vehicles (EVs). What used to be a novelty is now garnering mainstream appeal.
But did you know that there are also hybrid power plants? And you don’t even have to look far to find one because there’s a hybrid power plant right here in Mindanao!
What are hybrid power plants?
Like hybrid vehicles, which combine gasoline and electric power, hybrid power plants also use a mix of energy sources. They may use thermal energy sources such as gas and coal but they also rely on renewable energy such as wind, hydro, and solar. Using all of these components together, hybrid power plants are able to store energy inside a large battery.
Advantages of hybrid power generation
The 2015 Paris Climate Accord changed the course of world history, with 196 countries committing to reduce carbon emissions. Each country and each company should do its part in fulfilling this commitment by slowly moving away from its reliance on fossil fuels.
Hybrid power plants are great way of achieving this goal. Because they also use renewable forms of energy, they automatically don’t use as much fossil fuels as traditional power plants. This means they don’t emit as much carbon into the atmosphere either.
If you factor in rising fuel prices, then the benefits are significant. Hybrid power plants are actually more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective alternatives to conventional, fossil fuel-based systems.
BESS in Mindanao: a hybrid model for the rest of the country
In Mindanao, we’re already seeing hybrid power generation in full display. A 49-megawatt hybrid Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) built on a floating platform was recently inaugurated in Maco, Davao de Oro. A project by Aboitiz Power Corporation, through its subsidiary Therma Marine, Inc. (TMI), the BESS power plant is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, putting Mindanao at the forefront of sustainable power generation in the region.
The new BESS power plant uses a set of batteries to store electrical energy from the grid. It can then be used to augment supply in case of outages and complement TMI’s existing diesel engines. Through this new hybrid system, the company is able to sustain transmission capacity and grid stability, which ultimately leads to uninterrupted provision of good quality electricity.
The answer to the power crisis?
Mindanao has been marred by power crises over the past few decades and this latest power generation technology could be the long sought-after solution we’ve been waiting for. Unlike the thermal and hydro power plants that the region has relied on in the past, the BESS power plant is not solely dependent on one energy source.
The beauty of hybrid energy setups is that they tap into various renewable energy sources, making it more reliable and less prone to outages. This is especially important during the summer, when low levels of water supply limit the capacity of hydro power plants. In fact, BESS opens opportunities to support influx of more variable renewable energy sources into the grid.
This new BESS project may just be a start of a new revolution in energy supply, as Aboitiz Power plans to install 11 more BESS plants in the country for the next 10 years. Let’s hope that this is a sign of things to come. May our future be built on more sustainable and renewable sources of energy.
