THE DEPARTMENT of Energy (DoE) ordered the power industry in Mindanao to carry on with the central scheduling scheme in place for the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) until the department announces the date of commercial operations of the region’s spot market.
“All Mindanao electric power industry participants mandated to register in the WESM shall continue to participate in the WCS (WESM Central Scheduling) and shall comply with the guidelines, procedures, and instructions of the market operator and the system operator in the implementation of the same,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said in a July 24 advisory.
He said that generator trading participants in the region must follow the five-minute scheduling and dispatch of power based on the market management system, as well as the “re-dispatch” instructions of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.
Mr. Cusi added that participants must complete their WESM registration within the central scheduling period. Those who do not fulfill this requirement will face sanctions.
Entities including grid-connected and embedded generators required to register with the WESM must first participate in the WCS.
The market operator earlier said that there will be no WESM, WESM settlement or spot market transactions during the central scheduling period.
On June 26, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) rolled out the enhanced WESM design and operations setup in Luzon and Visayas. The improved setup reduces the time between the scheduling and dispatch of power to five minutes.
Around two weeks later, IEMOP noted an improvement in its peak demand projections, with accuracies of day-ahead forecasts hitting 94.7% in Luzon, 92% in Visayas and 96% in Mindanao.
Better forecasts give market participants access to accurate estimates in the changes of prices and conditions for the next day, IEMOP Manager of Operations Planning and Modeling Edward I. Olmedo has said. — Angelica Y. Yang
