Power spot prices up in September

BY LENIE LECTURA – OCTOBER 19, 2022
from Business Mirror

The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) said Tuesday the average electricity market price in September for Luzon and Visayas was recorded at P9.12 per kilowatt hour (kWh) as compared to the previous month’s P7.26/kWh.

After accounting for all bilateral and spot market transactions, the effective settlement price for September stood at P9.16/kWh, the highest for the year.

During an online briefing, official said average demand rose by 1.47 percent or 154 megawatts (MW) to 10,639 MW, while average supply was reduced by 4.73 percent or 675 MW to 13,599MW due to generator outages.

Last month, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) declared the Luzon grid under red alert status due to major generation inadequacy. A total of 3,401MW were on unplanned outage, and three generating units had a total deration of 226MW. Derated plants are those that are not operating at full capacity.

For September, total generation from diesel plants accounted for 220 gigawatt hours (GWh), or 2.9 percent of the generation mix, compared to the production of 93 GWh last August.

For coal power plants, the contribution for September is 4,434 GWh (57.6 percent), natural gas at 1,407 GWh (18.3 percent), geothermal at 772 GWh  (10 percent), hydro plants at 582 GWh (7.6 percent), variable renewable energy resources (solar and wind) at 172 GWh (2.8 percent), biomass plants at 67 GWh (0.9 percent), and battery energy storage systems at 2 GWh (0.03 percent).

During the briefing, IEMOP also launched its advocacy for the “Efficient Use of Energy Towards Productivity.” This advocacy is in line with the market operator’s thrust to raise awareness towards the efficient use of electricity to help lower the demand not only during peak hours but also during off-peak hours without sacrificing productivity which stimulates economic growth.

Lowering demand will redound to the reduction in the utilization of expensive fossil fuels in the grid. This can also result in a reduction in market clearing prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market which would be advantageous to consumers.

Image credits: www.iemop.ph