Q0012
BESS can solve problems involving the timing, speed, quality and reliability of electricity. It cannot create energy, correct a fundamentally uneconomic project or provide unlimited backup; its usefulness depends on matching its power, duration and controls to a clearly defined problem.
“Add a battery” is not a project objective. A BESS should be designed around a measurable service, otherwise the owner risks purchasing expensive capacity that is too small, too short-duration or contractually unable to earn value.
#### Problems BESS can solve for electricity users
Peak-demand reduction
Discharge during the facility’s highest demand intervals to reduce maximum-demand exposure.
Time-of-use shifting
Purchase or generate electricity during lower-value hours and use it during higher-value hours.
Solar self-consumption
Store surplus solar that would otherwise be exported or curtailed and consume it later.
Short-duration backup and ride-through
Maintain critical loads through interruptions, switching events or until longer-duration backup becomes available.
Power-quality support
Depending on design, provide rapid active and reactive-power response, voltage support and smoothing.
Capacity-management support
Reduce brief overloads on transformers or internal electrical infrastructure, potentially deferring an upgrade.
Demand-response participation
Respond to instructions or price signals by reducing net grid demand. TNB’s demand-response pilot explicitly includes BESS among potential participating resources. TNB demand-response programme
#### Problems BESS can solve for renewable projects
Solar smoothing
Reduce rapid changes caused by cloud movement and make output more predictable.
Ramp-rate control
Limit how quickly project output increases or decreases.
Energy shifting
Move generation from midday into evening or other higher-value periods.
Curtailment capture
Store energy that would otherwise be restricted, provided the battery can charge when curtailment occurs and later discharge without violating connection limits.
Firming
Shape variable generation into a more reliable delivery product. Current CRESS arrangements provide a Malaysian example of storage being used to support firm solar supply.
Shared-connection optimisation
A battery may use spare export capacity during hours when the solar plant is below its maximum, although the actual arrangement depends on connection and metering rules.
#### Problems BESS can solve for the grid
The 100 MW/400 MWh Santong BESS, commissioned in May 2026, is Malaysia’s first grid-connected utility-scale battery and was developed to strengthen grid stability and reliability. TNB Santong BESS
#### Problems BESS generally cannot solve alone
For a particular site:
HELP BUILD THE ANSWER
Have a useful source, first-hand experience or a different interpretation? Help us strengthen this brief by sharing evidence, filling a gap or suggesting a correction.
Economists, engineers, developers, investors, researchers, regulators and energy users see different parts of the transition. Tell us what you think deserves investigation.
Submit a questionQuestions create opportunity. Understanding where the energy transition is heading helps reveal the technologies, projects, capital and expertise that will be needed next.
The solutions that turn open questions into deployable answers — from storage chemistries to grid intelligence.
The pipeline of solar farms, substations and interconnections waiting to be built and financed.
Where investment flows next as the transition reshapes risk, return and the shape of the market.
The engineers, economists and regulators whose knowledge decides how fast the answers arrive.