Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Article (news)

Berde Renewables handout photo

Raine Musñgi

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1785628134893Magic Mall solar by Berde.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Berde Renewables handout photo</div>MANILA — The next corporate energy race has already begun, and it isn&#x27;t about solar panels.Philippine businesses have spent the past decade installing rooftop solar to rein in some of Southeast Asia&#x27;s highest electricity costs. Now, industry leaders say the next competitive advantage is no longer generating electricity.It&#x27;s storing it.As battery prices continue to fall and technology rapidly improves, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are emerging as the next frontier in corporate energy strategy.Instead of serving only as emergency backup power, batteries are increasingly helping companies cut electricity costs, reduce exposure to volatile power prices and maximize the value of renewable energy.The shift comes as the Philippines works toward raising renewable energy&#x27;s share in the power generation mix to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040, targets set by the Department of Energy that will require significantly more energy storage to support the growing use of solar and wind power. Globally, the International Energy Agency identifies battery storage as one of the fastest-growing clean energy technologies as costs continue to decline and renewable generation expands.&quot;The biggest challenge for renewables over the past decade has actually been its intermittency,&quot; Berde Renewables Group Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Morris Zhou said on ANC&#x27;s Business Outlook.&quot;When the sun shines, that&#x27;s great. When there&#x27;s a cloud, when there&#x27;s a typhoon, when it&#x27;s cloudy for a few days, you don&#x27;t get the power.&quot;&quot;What&#x27;s actually been happening over the last five years is that battery energy technology has had a major breakthrough, not only in terms of efficiency but also in cost. The energy storage piece was kind of the last piece for renewable energy transition.&quot;The Department of Energy has likewise identified battery storage as a key technology for improving grid reliability and integrating more renewable energy into the country&#x27;s electricity system.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2026/6/29/philippines-leads-the-world-in-rush-to-solar-as-power-prices-soar-2154">Philippines leads the world in rush to solar as power prices soar</a></div><div> </div><div>Solar enters its second phase</div>Early commercial rooftop solar projects were designed primarily to offset daytime electricity demand because excess power could only be exported to the grid under limited conditions. As a result, many systems were deliberately sized to avoid producing electricity that could not be consumed.Battery storage changes that equation.Instead of wasting surplus daytime generation, companies can now store it and use it after sunset, increasing the value of every solar installation.&quot;We&#x27;re now going back to our customers and saying, &#x27;Let&#x27;s do expansion stage two. We&#x27;ll max out your rooftop and retrofit energy storage so you&#x27;re now displacing more of the grid power,&#x27;&quot; Zhou said.Rather than replacing rooftop solar, batteries are extending its usefulness, allowing businesses to rely less on grid electricity during expensive evening hours.The bigger opportunity lies in the power marketFor many companies, the biggest savings may not come from producing more electricity.They may come from buying electricity at the right time.A growing number of large commercial and industrial consumers now purchase electricity under Time-of-Use (TOU)pricing, where rates reflect conditions in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).That allows companies equipped with battery storage to charge when wholesale prices are low and use stored electricity when prices spike.&quot;We&#x27;ve seen off-peak rates as low as around P3.50 per kilowatt-hour,&quot; Zhou said.&quot;But during peak periods, that same customer&#x27;s electricity price could actually skyrocket to around P7.&quot;&quot;If you have energy storage, you store the power when it&#x27;s P3.50. When the grid price becomes P7, you don&#x27;t draw from the grid anymore. You draw from the battery.&quot;Known as energy arbitrage, the strategy allows companies to shift electricity consumption away from expensive peak periods, reducing operating costs while improving energy resilience.Instead of simply paying monthly electricity bills, businesses are beginning to actively manage electricity costs through software, storage and market pricing.Unlike fossil fuels, whose prices fluctuate with global commodity markets, solar offers businesses something executives increasingly value alongside lower electricity costs: predictability.&quot;The fuel for a solar system is certain,&quot; Zhou said.&quot;The certainty that the sun will come up every day.&quot;AI quietly becomes the new energy managerBattery storage is also changing who makes energy decisions.Increasingly, those decisions are no longer made by facility managers.&quot;It&#x27;s actually all done by AI,&quot; Zhou said.According to Zhou, artificial intelligence continuously analyzes electricity prices, battery conditions and a customer&#x27;s power demand before automatically deciding when batteries should charge, discharge or draw electricity from the grid to minimize costs.What once required constant human monitoring is increasingly becoming an automated process running in the background.Battery storage&#x27;s next customer, however, may not be factories or shopping malls.It may be artificial intelligence itself.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2026/7/30/biz-group-backs-pax-silica-but-eyes-guardrails-warns-vs-blind-optimism-reflexive-opposition-1112">Biz group backs Pax Silica but wants guardrails, warns vs &#x27;blind optimism, reflexive opposition&#x27;</a></div><div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1785628162016Holcim Bulacan.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Berde Renewables handout photo</div><div> </div><div>Preparing for the AI data center boom</div>The rapid expansion of AI is triggering a new wave of investment in hyperscale data centers across Asia, facilities that consume enormous amounts of electricity and require uninterrupted power around the clock.Zhou disclosed that Berde Renewables is already in discussions with hyperscale operators in other regional markets on long-term renewable energy supply agreements.The Philippines, however, has yet to reach that stage.&quot;We are having active conversations with the large hyperscalers in terms of entering into long-term off-take agreements,&quot; Zhou said.&quot;In the Philippines, we have yet to initiate that process with potential data center operators here.&quot;That gap could become increasingly significant as Southeast Asian economies compete to attract AI infrastructure investments.Rather than relying on a single energy source, Zhou expects future AI data centers to combine solar, battery storage, grid electricity, liquefied natural gas, geothermal and hydropower to ensure continuous operations.&quot;Solar and energy storage will definitely be part of that solution for hyperscalers and industries which have high energy demand.&quot;&quot;But energy solution is not one better than the other. Energy solution is all about complementing each other.&quot;The message reflects a broader shift taking place across the energy sector.For years, rooftop solar symbolized the corporate energy transition.Today, battery storage is emerging as the technology that determines how much value companies can actually unlock from renewable energy.For businesses facing volatile electricity prices, rising energy demand and growing pressure to decarbonize, battery storage is quickly evolving from a sustainability investment into a competitive business strategy.<div> </div><div>Catch the full interview with Morris Zhou, Group Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Berde Renewables, on Business Outlook and on YouTube via ANC 24/7.</div>

Philippine businesses have spent the past decade installing rooftop solar to rein in some of Southeast Asia's highest electricity costs. Industry leaders say the next competitive advantage is no longer generating electricity.
It's storing it.

Philippine businesses have spent the past decade installing rooftop solar to rein in some of Southeast Asia's highest electricity costs. Industry leaders say the next competitive advantage is no longer generating electricity. It's storing it.

Battery storage, not rooftop solar, becomes the next battleground for corporate competitiveness

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Battery storage, not rooftop solar, becomes the next battleground for corporate competitiveness

Raine Musñgi,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 02, 2026 07:53 AM PHT

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Berde Renewables

Solar power

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