IEMOP sees La Niña cutting Luzon’s power consumption

By Lenie Lectura – October 14, 2020
from Business Mirror

La Niña could dampen electricity demand in Luzon throughout the year, according to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP).

“Given the La Niña, there is a downtrend. If this persists, then the trend will continue,” said IEMOP manager for pricing valuation and analysis John Paul Grayda in a virtual news briefing on Wednesday.

Data presented by the operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) showed that peak demand during the first 12 days of October this year declined by 5.4 percent to 10,303 megawatts (MW). IEMOP compared this to October 2019 level of 10,811MW.

This resulted in market prices in WESM for the first half of October to decline to P2.19 per kilowatt hour (kWh).

“The main reason is because we have a cooler weather, with more thunderstorms. We are still placed in GCQ (general community quarantine) that’s why the numbers aren’t that high yet,” said Grayda.

Luzon peak demand in September reached 10,563 MW, higher than the10,260 MW recorded during the similar period last year. The same month also recorded an increase in effective spot settlement price to P3.88 per kWh last month from P2.18 per kWh in September last year. This was largely attributable to the occurrence of price spikes as generator outages affected the supply levels.

“We are not only looking at demand as driver. There are times that demand is low but the sudden power outages and emergency tripping incidents could also result in WESM price spikes. But if we see La Niña as the only driver then this downward trend could continue in the next months,” added Grayda.

Meanwhile, IEMOP said it has successfully completed its preparations for the Enhanced WESM Design and Operations last September 30.

“With the completion of the critical performance testing and fine-tuning activities, the New Market Management System and the Central Registration and Settlement System are now ready for commercial use,” the company said.