WESM operator told to resolve row

by Alena Mae S. Flores


The Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered TeaM Philippines Energy Corp. and Philippine Electricity Market Corp. to resolve the power producer’s request to trade unutilized capacity at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.


“TPEC and PEMC are enjoined to engage in roundtable discussions to resolve this issue in tandem with the DoE [Department of Energy] and report in a timely manner the progress of discussions on how to resolve TPEC’s application within a period a six months... ,” ERC said in an order posted on its Web site Feb. 17.


TeaM sought advice from the ERC last year about its application for registration as a direct member of the WESM.


TeaM is a subsidiary of TeaM Energy, a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Marubeni Corp. It owns and operates the Sual and Pagbilao coal power plants in Pangasinan and Quezon provinces.


The Sual power plant is capable of producing 1,200 MW but only 1,000 MW is under contract with National Power Corp., while Pagbilao can generate up to 735 MW against the 700 MW covered by a Napocor supply contract.


The contracted capacities of Sual is traded by San Miguel Electric Corp. while those of the Pagbilao plant are administered by Therma Luzon Inc. of Aboitiz Power Corp.


TeaM manages the capacities of TeaM Energy, which are not under contract with Napocor.


Team said it asked PEMC, as operator of the WESM, for assistance to determine a methodology that will allow it to trade directly the excess capacities of the two plants in the WESM.


(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/March/3.)