Battery Storage for Asia

By Tim Rockell, Managing Director and Founder, EnergyStrat Asia Pte Ltd, Consultant for KPMG, and Chair, BritCham Energy and Utilities Committee and Bree Miechel, Partner, Ashurst LLP and BritCham Energy and Utilities Committee member

Economic energy storage is one of the key technologies to develop and accelerate the achievement of goals for a net-zero world. Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk have all added energy storage to the list of technologies to conquer. In this article the BritCham Energy and Utilities Committee review the sector.

Storage is a dynamic sector and developing solutions at scale is critical to achieving net-zero. Broadly, energy storage includes the spectrum of Electric Vehicle (EV), grid level and behind the meter batteries, pumped storage, and the burgeoning green hydrogen industry.

Under the Chamber’s Road to Net-Zero campaign, the Energy & Utilities Business Committee convened a panel of experts to walk through battery storage developments globally and, in the region, with a focus on:

• the growing opportunities to invest in, develop and finance the future of battery storage in the Asia region, and

• the human imperative to accelerate the roll-out of battery technologies and a commercial rationale for doing so.

Siobhan Clarke, BP Launchpad, discussed investing in and scaling energy companies. She drew on her experience in sales and strategy roles in start-ups and big tech. Her expertise lies in finding the value exchange and getting the right things done.

Bert Jan Armand Deprest explained that ENGIE’s core mission is to partner with and assist large corporations, industry, businesses and local governments in their energy efficiency, energy management and renewable energy needs by designing and delivering cost effective and sustainable solutions as-a-service in accelerating common ambition and journey towards zero-carbon transition. Beni Suryadi outlined the role of the ASEAN Centre For Energy. Beni manages two ASEAN major projects: the ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project (ACCEPT), the first integrated energy and climate change project in ASEAN, and the ASEAN Interconnection Masterplan Study (AIMS) III, the regional blueprint for electricity interconnection in the region.

Mauricio Riveros, Carbon Trust, covered some of his experience at the Carbon Trust where he has worked in the low carbon energy sector on several projects related to smart grids, renewables, and storage for a range of high-profile public and private clients, including local governments in the UK, Latin America, and Asia.

Guests had the opportunity to join breakout group sessions with the panellists to share experiences through networking. This generated some very interesting discussions. One panellist reflected that the session provided more insights within an hour on the topic than had been garnered in the past six months!

The Asian region includes countries at very different stages of development, with different operating models for their energy systems, disparate policy objectives and stakeholder interests. Some countries are further along the path than others on the transition of merchant and state-controlled electricity markets and introducing renewable electricity into the grid. Many face challenges to build a pathway towards net-zero, increase energy capacity and even to ensure consistent, affordable energy access for all.

With over 82 percent of new capacity coming from renewables in ASEAN, storage is becoming an issue to achieve targets and to deal with associated intermittency. Storage is important to drive market development to shift renewably generated electrons around the region through interconnections. Costs of battery storage are predicted to decline by 30 percent in Asia over the next five years. Battery storage for microgrids is already cost competitive versus the comparative cost of connecting remote islands to the grid. This is important for the archipelago geography of ASEAN countries. Engie is running testbeds in Singapore to see how batteries can be incorporated into microgrids.

Adoption of storage at scale is still heavily reliant on government support through fiscal incentives to introduce the technology. However, if costs come down, which we have seen with solar and wind development, we can expect storage to scale and become integrated into the grid, becoming part of renewable electricity project offerings. This will have impacts for feed in tariffs with commercial arrangements reflected in the terms of offtake agreements. In the merchant markets batteries can pay for themselves as ‘power plants’, trading electricity as prices spike and dip. Exciting developments are also afoot with the emergence of vehicle to grid (V2G) energy technology enabling EVs to become mobile batteries in the next decade.

Battery storage and energy storage more broadly will play an increasing role in the region and offers four key opportunities:

1. Deferring investment in transmission systems by easing grid congestion.

2. Reducing curtailment by storing renewable electricity which would otherwise be lost through lack of grid access.

3. Provide flexibility which coal-heavy power generation systems in Asia cannot achieve.

4. Enable a smarter grid, combined with smart meters to build increased competition in power markets.

In the broader APAC region, Australia is seeing battery deployment progressing at breakneck speed with recent regulatory changes pushing towards the use of portfolios of varied storage assets, aiming to lower electricity costs.

Exciting policy, technology and market developments are to come in the battery storage sector with predictions for a tremendous pick-up in studies for battery projects, both for those self-invested, or as a service agreement with a large provider. Batteries in the grid, behind the meter, and integrated into transport will surely grow through a constantly developing approach.

Watch the replay of our Battery Storage for Asia webinar on YouTube, recorded on 23 September and featuring our expert panellists:

• Bree Miechel, Partner at Ashurst LLP (Moderator)

• Siobhan Clarke, Operating Partner at BP Launchpad

• Bert Jan Armand Deprest, Regional Head of Business Development at Engie

• Beni Suryadi, Manager, Power Generation, Fossil Fuels, Alternative Energy and Energy Storage at ASEAN Centre for Energy

• Mauricio Riveros, Senior Manager, Energy Systems at The Carbon Trust