Electricity spot market to start in Visayas next month?

Business World Online

Posted on 09:15 PM, October 03, 2010

THE LONG-DELAYED commercial operations in the Visayas of Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) may finally start next month, Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras told reporters late last week.

"I don’t have the exact date, but I know it’s some time in November. That is the running schedule," Mr. Almendras said.

WESM was supposed to start in the Visayas two years after it began operating in Luzon in 2006. But insufficient power supply had raised fears that prematurely starting WESM operations would result in more price volatility.

A check with the Web site of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines showed that the Visayas had an 82-megawatt (MW) power deficiency yesterday.

Mr. Almendras said without elaborating that "there are some technical issues that need to be resolved; I don’t want to call them problems, but they’re just issues that need to be addressed."

But he claimed that less cooperatives oppose the start of WESM in the Visayas. "I haven’t received any more reaction from the electric cooperatives about WESM Visayas," he said.

The Association of Visayas Electric Cooperatives could not be reached for comment.

Mario R. Pangilinan, executive vice-president of WESM operator Philippine Electricity Market Corp., said in a separate interview that trial runs on WESM in the Visayas have been completed. "We have completed trials for WESM Visayas. We have to ask further directions for the Department of Energy as to when would be the appropriate time to conduct the WESM," Mr. Pangilinan said.

This development comes as new power plants are expected to start serving the Visayas between December and January. Specifically, these are the 246-MW coal-fired plant of Cebu Energy Development Corp. and the 164-MW coal plant of Panay Energy Development Corp. -- ENJD

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