THE Department of Energy (DoE) has put on hold the acceptance of comments for the draft rules covering the launch of a wholesale electricity spot market in Mindanao, citing “recent developments.”
Energy Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella did not immediately respond to a request for details on what transpired recently to prompt the DoE to “temporarily discontinue” accepting comments.
The circular, entitled “Declaring the Launch of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in Mindanao and Providing for Transition Arrangements” was posted last week. The draft placed the market’s launch on June 26, 2017.
A source familiar with the matter said the DoE was awaiting the submission of an “annex” covering a power dispatch protocol and would post the amended draft circular shortly. The notice on the DoE web site called on the industry to disregard the previous draft as the agency “will be uploading the revised version soon.”
The source added that there would be no change in the launch date, which should coincide with the introduction of a new system by the market’s governance arm, the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC), for the Luzon and the Visayas market.
Under the previous draft, the DoE issued a set of criteria for PEMC to comply with 15 days before the launch date. It also said that all provisions of the WESM rules, market manuals, and pricing methodology will apply to the Mindanao market.
“Prior to the establishment of the physical infrastructure connecting the Mindanao grid to the Luzon-Visayas grids, prices and dispatch schedules for Mindanao shall be separate,” the draft stated.
The criteria, numbering five, require all systems and procedures — including all interfaces with the participants and service providers necessary for the market’s operation — to be in place.
The DoE also required the forecasting, scheduling, dispatch, pricing,metering and settlement processes of the WESM to be fully operational in the Mindanao grid.
It said training programs should have been conducted for the southern island’s trading participants, with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) giving its approval to the price determination methodology for the WESM design.
An independent auditor should also have certified the market dispatch optimization model as compliant with existing market rules.
In the draft circular, the DoE has also set “transition arrangements,” which directed system operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) — in consultation with generation companies, distribution utilities and PEMC — to submit an interim nomination and dispatch procedures.
The procedures will govern the scheduling of available power capacities and nomination of contracted capacities in Mindanao.
The dispatch protocol will serve as a standard guideline and procedure to be followed by the NGCP Mindanao system operations, the generation companies, including those with embedded generators with a capacity of at least 10 megawatts, and load-end customers. — Victor V. Saulon
