‘REM commercial operations to start in December’
By Lenie Lectura – November 8, 2024
from Business Mirror
The commercial operations of the Renewable Energy Market (REM) is expected to finally happen next month, according to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (Iemop).
“We are preparing for the renewable energy market, targeted hopefully by December 2024, to (start) full commercial operations,” said Iemop Corporate Planning and Communications Manager Arjon Valencia.
The REM is defined by the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) as the venue for the trading of renewable energy (RE) certificates equivalent to an amount of power generated from RE resources. It is intended as a facility for mandated participants to comply with their Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) obligations.
The RPS refers to a market-based policy that mandates electricity suppliers to source an agreed portion of their energy supply from eligible RE resources contributing to the growth of the RE industry in the country.
The Renewable Energy Act or Republic Act 9513 provided for the establishment of REM. It has been on interim commercial operations since 2022 and PEMC currently serves as the RE registrar, which will be responsible for issuing, keeping, and verifying RE certificates corresponding to energy generated from eligible RE facilities.
“But we’re expecting to have it transferred the functions to IEMOP at the same time as the declaration of commercial operations. The DOE [Department of Energy] will promulgate a department circular declaring the full commercial operations,” added Valencia.
The PEMC has been issuing one certificate for every megawatt hour (MWh) of actual output from eligible RE facilities.
“But right now the figure that I remembered so far was around 17,000 metering facilities across the system. But some distribution utilities haven’t submitted any net metering data to obtain or to get the RE certificates on their account,” said Valencia.
The mandated participants include electric cooperatives, distribution utilities, and retail suppliers. They can also source their power requirements from the RE market.
Valencia said final preparations for the commercial launch of the REM is ongoing. Iemop, he said, is working closely with the DOE, PEMC, Energy Regulatory Commission, and market participants to ensure that operations of the RE market will be successful.
Iemop is the operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the venue for trading electricity.
Image credits: www.iemop.ph
