PEMC commends SNAP hydro power plants
By Lenie Lectura – October 13, 2020
from Business Mirror
The hydroelectric power plants of SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP) Group have been ranked as top compliant hydro generators during the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) Compliance Officer Summit.
The 105-megawatt (MW) Ambuklao hydro topped among 12 participating hydro-power generators all over the country with a compliance rating of 95.55 percent for the period June 26, 2019 to June 25. The 140MW Binga and 360MW Magat hydro plants placed second and fourth, respectively, with 92.60 percent and 83.45 percent.
This is SNAP’s third citation this year from Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC), as it also topped PEMC’s compliance ratings in April for the cool-dry season covering the period December 26, 2019 to February 25 and in July for the hot-dry season covering the period February 26 to May 25.
SNAP Group is a joint venture between SN Power of Norway and Aboitiz Power. It supplies clean, renewable and dependable energy through the operation of the Ambuklao hydro, and the Binga hydro in the province of Benguet. SNAP also operates the 8.5-megawatt Maris hydro in Isabela, as well as the newly uprated Magat hydro on the border of Isabela and Ifugao.
The PEMC is the governing body of the WESM, a centralized venue and platform for the trading of electricity. Consistent with the provisions in the Electric Industry Reform Act of 2001, PEMC transferred the management of the operations of the WESM to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) in September 2018.
This move resulted in the current structure with PEMC as the governance arm and owner of the market-related assets with IEMOP managing the daily market operations.
The summit, held last September 25, is an annual event held by PEMC to provide updates and new guidelines on market compliance. It recognizes the electric power industry participants’ efforts in fostering a culture of compliance and integrity with the WESM rules and manuals.
“The WESM Compliance Officers (WCO) Summit 2020 is a venue to strengthen the culture of compliance and integrity among electricity market participants by enhancing the knowledge base of the WCOs and the WESM Enforcement Officers with the latest developments in the Philippine power bourse,” said PEMC Chairman Noel V. Aboboto.
PEMC explained that WCO Summit 2020 Awards distinguished market participant commitment to fulfilling their obligations in offering to the market their maximum available capacity as well as their compliance to their real-time schedule instructions. This covered the period June 26, 2019 to June 25 and is based on WESM generator classification such as biomass, coal-fired, geothermal, hydroelectric, natural gas, and oil-based.
The WCO Summit 2020 Awards also recognized efforts to attain high compliance scores of variable renewable energy generators specifically on observing accuracy standards on their projected output covering the period December 26, 2018 to December 25, 2019 as monitored by the IEMOP. This is based on resource type, such as wind, solar, and run-of-river.
“PEMC acknowledges that, based on the WESM Rules, it only recognizes generator participant compliance currently and is looking at ways to recognize non-generator market participants as well,” said PEMC President Oscar E. Ala.
