IEMOP: Power spot market prices in Luzon up in October
By Lenie Lectura – October 30, 2023
from Business Mirror
The average electricity spot market prices in Luzon as of October 28 rose to P6.74 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from the previous month’s average of P4.87 per kWh, as plant shutdowns reduced power supply.
“As of October 28, the average price for the billing month of October 2023 is P6.74 kWh. We would like to note that this is still subject for pricing corrections.
Considering the set of outage during the first half of October, only Sual Unit 1 remains on planned outage and from time to time, the forced outage of Ilijan plants,” said Robinson Descanzo, COO of Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (Iemop).
Data showed that from October 1 to 15, the average price shot up to P7.58 per kWh. The first half of October showed that the average supply stood at 12,150MW while demand was recorded at 9,638MW, leaving a supply margin of only 2,307MW.
“During the first half of October billing month, supply margin went down from 3,462MW to 2,307MW as a result of planned and forced outages,” he added.
Total outages reached as high as around 6,950MW which were caused by the planned and forced outages of major coal and gas plants in Luzon.
The plants that went on forced outage from September 26 to October 15 include GNPD Unit2, Sual Unit2, QPPL G01, SBPL, Pagbilao Units 1 and 3, Masinloc Unit 3 and Sta Rita Units 2 and 3 and Ilijan plants.
Meanwhile, Sual Units 1 and 2, Sta Rita Units 1, 4 and 6 were placed on planned outage.
“The outages happened simultaneously from October 7 to 10. These dates are also when high prices occurred,” Descanzo said.
Similarly, the average price in the Visayas from October 1 to 15 also went up to P8.49 per kWh from the September average price of P6.36 per kWh. Supply was recorded at 2,309MW while demand stood at 1,884MW, resulting in a thin supply margin of 182MW.
Meanwhile, Mindanao’s average electricity spot market prices during the first half of October went down to P4.96 per kWh from last month’s P5.71 per kWh. Supply margin was at 1,147MW.
IEMOP is the operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor for electricity.
