Aboitiz sees need for WESM in Visayas

MANILA, Philippines - Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC) sees the need for the establishment of a wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) in the Visayas.

APC senior vice president for trading and marketing Luis Miguel Aboitiz told reporters that the Visayas area may need additional power soon.

Aboitiz believed that WESM Visayas would be able to help alleviate the power shortage in the area.

I’m hoping that they start the WESM Visayas as soon as the first new units come online in the Visayas. The first new units will be around in March next year. WESM in the Visayas will help alleviate the power problem,” he said.

He said these new power facilities could start the WESM Visayas.

“In March, in Western Cebu only 82 megawatt (MW) will come in, and then June is another 80MW and then September is another 80MW,” he said.

He said if there may be a delay in the implementation of the so-called Visayas Supply Augmentation Auction (VSAA), the WESM-Visayas might as well be started.

“The VSAA was approved but the conditions to the approval made it no longer feasible to implement in a practical manner. I think PEMC (Philippine Electricity Market Corp.) applied with the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) and asked for a reconsideration. But it’s already getting pretty late, if does not get the ruling in time, we might just implement the WESM Visayas - and then in which case we don’t need the VSAA anymore,” he said.

The VSAA hopes to address the growing concern for the tight power supply in the Visayas, specifically in Cebu, Negros and Panay.

VSAA is a voluntary program which allows distribution utilities and large consumers of electricity to boost their supply deficit through a transparent and competitive means much like the electricity spot market in Luzon.

The program offers a number of options for distribution utilities for the procurement of power.

This includes purchase of supply deficit from another supplier thru the VSAA apart from their existing bilateral contracts as well as voluntary load curtailment.

The successful launch of the VSAA is envisioned to allow for a smooth transition to the operation of the Visayas Commercial Operations Program of the WESM which is expected to encourage possible investors to venture in the Visayas power industry, thus bringing in the competition necessary for the region.