WESM settlement prices down in April

By Myrna M. Velasco – April 29, 2022, 3:23 PM
from Manila Bulletin

With higher capacity availability from power plants, the settlement prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) had softened to P6.26 per kilowatt hour (kWh) this April versus the previous month’s P6.97 per kWh.

According to WESM operating entity Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), supply conditions had been better due to resumption of operations by generators that were previously on outage.

The market operator added the stormy weather provided a counterweight to the scorching summer months and somehow flattened demand at a time when electricity consumption should have already been at escalated proportions.

IEMOP indicated that the resulting lower spot prices in April had been mainly attributed to the 449 megawatts (MW) of capacity buildup in the system, that so far, has been higher by 3.3 percent versus the last supply month.

Further, the WESM operator specified that demand had been on decline by equivalent 1.38-percent or 146MW. “This was partly brought about by the presence of two typhoons – Agaton and Basyang – which gave off heavy rains and relatively colder weather all over Luzon and Visayas,” IEMOP stressed.

The Holy Week break was similarly cited as another factor igniting demand downtrend, as that religious event “temporarily halted the operations of many businesses.”

IEMOP thus emphasized that the scale of demand for April decelerated by 20.18-percent to 10,454MW from a higher 10,600MW within the March supply timeframe.

The WESM operator expounded that on a per-region basis, the peak demand for Luzon declined to 11,492MW from 11,617MW; while for the Visayas grid, it was conversely higher at 2,156MW from previously at 2,143MW.

Apart from highly probable demand surge during the summer months, another major event in which IEMOP has been reinforcing its preparations on would be collaborating with stakeholders on ensuring that next month’s synchronized national and local elections will not be marred with power service interruptions or brownouts.

Based on its prognosis, there are no expected glitches in the power system and reserves margin would also be sufficient for electricity grids to operate and function efficiently throughout the polling period or from the actual voting to the canvassing of election results.

“IEMOP assures the general public of its steadfast commitment (to) providing excellent and reliable electricity market operations service,” the WESM operator asserted.