THE Department of Energy assured electric cooperatives in the Visayas not to worry once the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) is implemented.
“We will work together for possible initiatives to protect electric cooperatives with the implementation of WESM,” said Department of Energy secretary Jose Rene Almendras.
Electric cooperatives are worried that WESM will cause congestion between island links and that there would be an insufficient base load.
Preparation
A member of a power cooperative said during the 2nd Energy Investment Forum last Thursday at the Parklane Hotel, “All the electric coops in the Visayas will not participate if WESM is not prepared well. However, we will do business if the proper plans are set up.”
WESM is a venue where electricity by power-producing companies is centrally coordinated and traded like any other commodity in a market of goods.
It ensures that the price of electricity bought through its facilities is market-based. At present, WESM covers only Luzon.
Test
“By the end of September, we intend to test the commercial readiness of the participants prior to full commercial operations. This will be the live dispatch operation (LDO) of WESM,” said Mario Pangi-linan, head of corporate planning and communications of the Philippine Electric Market Corp. (PEMC).
PEMC, the governing body of WESM, already established the infrastructure for its operation in the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) grid.
In a previous report, PEMC said WESM will be installed in the next two years yet because it is still waiting for the power supply situation in the Visayas to normalize.
Pangilinan said they will start operations after more than 50 percent of the number of distribution utilities (DUs), aggregators, major loads, and independent power producers have registered.