The operations of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in the Mindanao Grid will be delayed to the middle of next year, according to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP).
IEMOP, which operates WESM, was expecting commercial operations to begin on December 26, but officials pointed out that the software system must be upgraded first before the launch pushes through.
WESM, the country’s trading floor of electricity, is a centralized venue for buyers and sellers to trade power as a commodity. Prices in the platform are based on actual demand and supply. It began commercial operations in the Luzon Grid in June 2006, while operations in the Visayas Grid started in December 2010.
According to IEMOP Chief Corporate Strategy and Communications Officer Isidro Cacho, Jr., the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) wants it to implement enhancements in the New Market Management System’s price determination methodology, particularly with regard to price substitution mechanism pricing, administered price conditions, secondary price cap, and automatic pricing re-runs.
These enhancements would then be needed to be certified by an independent auditor, added IEMOP’s Chief Operating Officer and Acting Trading Head Robinson Descanzo. He added that all improvements must be reflected in the software before the commercial launch.
