POWER market operator Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) still pushes the need to commercially launch the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in the Visayas, which would help bring the much-needed investments for additional generation capacity in the said island-region.

“The sooner the WESM Visayas gets running, investors can go ahead and put in the investments needed for additional power-generation capacity,” Lasse Holopainen, PEMC president, told reporters in an interview.

Most of the stakeholders, according to the PEMC official, in the Visayas do feel there needs to be a solution to their current power-supply problem.

Holopainen admitted he is more concerned about how and when the much-needed new generation capacity will come in.

Considering the delay in the implementation of the WESM Visayas, Holopainen said there are plants that are not running because of price constraints, particularly those 15-MW plants operated by private owners that do not show up in the system because otherwise they will lose money.

“Our real hope is that the power situation in the Visayas will improve immediately as soon as the WESM Visayas kicks off, with the private sector expected to come in and pour in much-needed capital,” said Holopainen.

In March PEMC announced that it has extended its Live Dispatch Operations (LDO) in the Visayas in preparation for the Department of Energy’s approval for full commercial operations in the Visayas.

In February live dispatch operations have started that marked the final step of the Visayas Trial Operations.

WESM said it is intended to test the readiness of the market systems and the participants prior to full commercial operations.  During this time, all electricity in the Visayas is being schedule through the WESM market system.

“The WESM, which is the Market Operator [MO], and the National Transmission Corp. [Transco], which is the System Operator [SO], have been working closely during the course of the LDO in order to fully implement the dispatch schedules provided by WESM,” Mario  Pangilinan, PEMC executive vice president, said.

He added that the Visayas in general has been very cooperative, and that they are looking forward to working closely with the participants and SO Visayas upon commercial operations.

The WESM Billing and Settlements Department has set up a mock settlement system so the participants may experience financial reconciliations during the LDO.

The mock settlement also enables the full testing of the financial system in preparation for the spot market’s Visayas launch. When the market operates, the WESM will have a gross turnover in the Visayas of P38 billion annually.

Commercial operations in Luzon was launched on June 26, 2006.

“The market has been a catalyst for change in the power industry, encouraging significant interest in the government privatization program. For the Visayas, on the other hand, we hope that this will finally resolve the issues regarding future power investments while maintaining competitive electricity rates,” Holopainen said.

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PEMC expresses high hopes of running power market in Visayas

POWER market operator Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) still pushes the need to commercially launch the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in the Visayas, which would help bring the much-needed investments for additional generation capacity in the said island-region.