As economic activities continue to ease in, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) assured the public that it will remain steadfast and resilient in its provision of efficient and reliable market service during this time of the year. This includes being on the ground and ensuring constant coordination with its stakeholders and participants as two (2) of the major islands in the country, Visayas and Mindanao, faced the reeling of Typhoon Odette.
In line with its mandate of transparency, IEMOP apprised the media on the impact of the said typhoon vis-à-vis the market situation in Visayas. The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) suspended the WESM Operations in Visayas on 1942H of 16 December 2021. The market suspension is still in effect as of writing. Administered Prices (AP) shall be used for the suspended intervals. Currently, the indicative Administered Price for this period is around PhP 4.6/kWh. Real-time data from the System Operator shows a demand of around 833 MW at 10:30 am of 21 December 2021.
Likewise, IEMOP tackled the market operations highlights for the last few months of the year wherein a higher average market amounting to PhP 6.32/kWh[1] was observed due to a thin supply margin brought about by forced and planned outages of major power plants. This recorded a 22.2% or PhP 1.15 increase from the figure last November 2021. However, due to colder weather, demand decreased from 10,379 MW to 9,559 MW or a difference of 820 MW.
The same trend also follows suit for the system and regional peak demands. As of 15 December, the system peak demand was recorded at 12,096 MW – 4.78% or 579 MW lower than that of the previous month. On a larger scale, the annual system peak demand of 13,752 MW increased by 4.34% or around 571 MW. As for the regional peak demand, Luzon peak demand decreased from 10,550 MW to 9,999 MW (5.51%) similar to the declining movement of the Visayas peak demand from 2,154 MW to 2,135 MW (0.88%) this November and December, respectively.
For the market transactions of the first two (2) months of the last quarter of 2021, the Effective Settlement Spot Price (ESSP) decreased from PhP 6.43/kWh to PhP 5.15/kWh or around 24.8%. In contrast, the total spot percentage increased for this period from 8% to 12.2%. The generation for the November spot transactions was recorded at 7,168 GWh.
In its concluding media briefing for the year 2021, the Market Operator reiterated its commitment of a reliable and continuous WESM operations and stakeholder support. This was emphasized as IEMOP discussed its major accomplishments for the year. Some of which included the launching of the five-minute market through the Enhanced WESM Design and Operations, implementation of the WESM Central Scheduling in Mindanao, preparation for the Reserve Market, and the commencement of the Green Energy Option Program, among others. Updates to these market developments were discussed further in the said venue.
With only a few days remaining for this year, IEMOP commits to powering the Filipino spirit this season to light an even brighter and resilient future for the industry and the entire nation.
[1] Data covers up to 18 December 2021 only.
