Power reserve market nears full operations

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s much-awaited reserve market is now one step closer to commencing full commercial operations, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).

In an advisory, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said final preparations for the commercial operations of the reserve market have been substantially completed to date.

However, he said that the WESM Governance Arm has not yet issued the required certification, pending the software certification from an independent auditor.

 Lotilla said the Energy Regulatory Commission is still reviewing the simulations on additional constraints duly submitted by the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) for the approval of the price determination methodology.

The WESM Governance Arm is tasked to issue a certification on the completeness of the preparation, which shall include audit of the systems and readiness of the participants.

Lotilla has directed the Philippine Electricity Market Corp., as the WESM Governance Arm, to closely monitor and undertake the necessary actions towards certifying the completion of the remaining requirements for the full commercial operations of the reserve market.

“To ensure the continuity of the preparations, particularly the familiarization of the trading participants, and the system operator with the reserve market environment, the market operator, the system operator, and all trading participants are hereby directed to continue the final preparatory activities in accordance with the operating procedures for the central scheduling and dispatch of contracted ancillary services,” Lotilla said.

“Said procedures shall continue to be implemented until the full commercial operations of the reserve market to be declared by the DOE,” he said.

IEMOP, as the market operator, started last June the trial operations program for the reserve market, a mechanism where generation capacities for power reserves are auctioned off.

On Sept. 28, preparations commenced for the commercial operations of the reserve market, which were initially expected to start on Dec. 26.

IEMOP said the reserve market is expected to enhance the reliability and security of delivering power from generators to consumers through its optimal and responsive mechanism for scheduling regulating, contingency and dispatchable reserves.

Its implementation is also expected to spur more investments in battery storage and ancillary capacity to support the needs of the power grid.