After much delay, the Department of Energy (DOE) is looking to kickstart the commercial operations of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) Mindanao by the end of the year to cater to the energy capacities that qualified participants will trade in the grid. 

In a report by the Manila Bulletin, a DOE draft circular said that the DOE is looking to declare December 26, 2022 as the commercial operation date of WESM Mindanao. 

The DOE noted that the scheduling and dispatch of capacities in Mindanao would depend on the schedules given by the market operator in accordance with WESM rules and relevant market manuals. 

It can be recalled that the launch of WESM Mindanao was delayed to coincide with the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP). 

However, the DOE said that some stakeholders said that WESM Mindanao should be implemented ahead of MVIP’s operations, “since creating new mechanism for settlement.” 

With that, DOE said that the operations of WESM Mindanao would need amendments to the price determination methodology (PDM) and enhancements to the current software. 

The PDM will determine how dispatch schedules and locational marginal prices are calculated in the market dispatch optimization model (MDOM), which includes price substitution methodology. It will also include the calculation of settlement amounts which will be the net of the bilateral contracts being funneled through trading in the spot market. 

As of mid-November, at least 68 out of the target 101 expected participants in WESM Mindanao have completed its registration process in the spot market.