DAVAO CITY-- The Department of Energy is optimistic that the Mindanao Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) will be fully operational by the second quarter of 2018.
“WESM is not put on hold,” said DOE Assistant Secretary Redentor Delola during a press conference at the sidelines of the Energy Investment Forum and Stakeholders Conference at Grand Regal Hotel Tuesday.
Delola said there is a high reception from the cooperatives seeing no problem in the implementation of WESM. He added that there are test cases that have to be run yet.
The price determination terminology under WESM, Delola said, has yet to be established and approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). Once approved, WESM will be fully operational by second quarter of 2018.
Delola underscored the need for the country to have a single market price terminology for Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
He said Luzon and Visayas has a 10-minute interval and Mindanao has five minutes. DOE is working on migrating this for a single market price at a five-minute interval.
Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said Mindanao is lagging behind in the spot market system.
He recalled that after the launching the system is still under trial operation until participants in the spot market would know how to operate.
WESM is providing a competitive and transparent power market for Mindanao electricity consumers. It will lead Mindanao closer to the fulfillment of the intent to restructure the electric power industry in terms of efficiency, greater innovation, end-user choice, and returns to investments.
Mindanao has a total installed capacity of 3,352 megawatts (MW). It has an available capacity of 2,600 MW against the actual peak demand of 1,696 MW.
By 2022, Delola said Mindanao will be needing 3,800-megawatt by 2022 from the current 2,600 MW with an expected growth under the government’s Build Build Build program.
“So by 2022 we need around 1,000 MW more of supply of power that’s the total requirement and that is already considering the 20 percent reserves,” Delola said.
Delola said there is a 2,538 MW indicative capacity in the pipeline for the next five years that will come into the system.
This is spread all over Mindanao - a mix of coal, hydro, geothermal, and solar plants.
He said the mix of the incoming indicative capacity in Mindanao is 48 percent coal, 50 percent renewable energy and only 2 percent for the oil based.
Delola said Mindanao has 50 percent renewable energy. Of that, 29 percent is hydro, 4 percent biomass, 16 percent solar and one percent geothermal.
WESM in Mindanao will efficiently tap excess capacity and ensure 24-hour electricity service.
Besides the efficient use of excess capacity, the open market for power supply is one step of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte to address future economic growth and the increasing number of independent power producers and supply distributors.
WESM also promotes transparency and fair play among power distributors.
The market will be more systematic where trading is every five minutes. Under this system, all participants are required to register prior to injecting or withdrawing electricity. There are 83 trading participants under the Mindanao grid. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)
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