Visayas grid electricity spot market launch set for today

BUSINESS MIRROR

MONDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2010 19:21 PAUL ANTHONY A. ISLA / REPORTER

INDUSTRIES and power suppliers in the Visayas grid will soon have a venue to trade electricity, as the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (Wesm)-Visayas is expected to be launched today (Tuesday), Melinda Ocampo, Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (Pemc) president, said.

“The launch will push through today, but commercial operation and actual trading will begin on December 26. We are in the process of completing the procedures for the registration,” the PEMC official said.

Ocampo said they still don’t know how much supply will be coursed through Wesm-Visayas since the start of commercial operation will start only on December 26. “We still have 30 to 60 days to complete one billing cycle,” she added.

The Pemc official declined to specify how many participants have already registered in Wesm-Visayas. The Visayas spot market will be integrated to the Wesm-Luzon.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras earlier said “those who have opposed [the sport market’s operation] have finally understood the need to do it. I told them, if you allow Wesm to operate today, then your brownouts will end today, as there is a generation capacity of almost 200 megawatts (MW),” he said.

Almendras pointed out that the 200-MW excess in generation capacity is not being brought to the market because there is no pricing mechanism for intermittent supply.

The Energy department was earlier looking at making Wesm-Visayas operational toward the end of the year. “We tried to do it by September, but I think it’s going to be difficult as there are some technical reasons why it’s going to be difficult,” he said.

Among other technical glitches that impeded the operation of Wesm-Visayas include grid and metering. .

Almendras said the Visayas supply will improve within a few months. It might be the best time, as a matter of fact, to implement Wesm Visayas. When all these generation capacities come in, this will be beneficial to the distribution utilities and electric cooperatives, he added.

The energy chief said the Visayas grid also has to be ready to accommodate the additional supply that will be traded at the Wesm. He added that he also urged stakeholders to make the Wesm-Visayas a reality.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) earlier also ordered Pemc, operator of the Wesm, to come up with a pricing scheme for the Visayas market.

Wesm began commercial operations in Luzon in June 2006. It is a centralized venue for buyers and sellers to trade electricity as a commodity where its prices is based on actual use and availability.