THE Department of Energy (DoE) said on Tuesday that it expects to launch commercial operations of the spot market for power reserves by September.
The DoE, in an advisory dated June 26 signed by Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla, said that the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) has completed preparatory activities required for the commercial launch.
IEMOP operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). The reserve market will facilitate the trading of ancillary services or power reserves needed to support the transmission system.
The DoE said that in anticipation of the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) approval of the price determination methodology (PDM), it has directed the IEMOP to commence the trial operations program for the reserve market on Monday.
“We informed all generation companies accredited as AS (ancillary service) providers that they are mandated to register in the WESM and participate as well in the trial operations, which we plan to do prior to the target launch of the reserve market by September,” IEMOP said in a statement.
The DoE said the trial operations are a non-binding exercise for reserve market participants which seek to “test all market systems for registration, scheduling, dispatch and pricing, metering, cost recovery and settlement.”
The results of the trial, however, will have no application to commercial operations in terms of scheduling, dispatch, settlement and cost recovery, the DoE said.
ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Monalisa C. Dimalanta said that the Commission expects the PDM to be approved next month.
“We just concluded the public hearings, so we are waiting for final submissions of the parties,” Ms. Dimalanta said in a Viber message on Tuesday.
The DoE has also directed IEMOP and the system operator to draft the guidelines and procedures for the trials.
“For this purpose, IEMOP is directed to submit weekly reports to the DoE on the results of the trail program,” it said.
The DoE also ordered the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. to complete the audit of the software enhancement to the market systems in preparation for the launch of the reserve market. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
