Year: 2022

The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) observed an increasing trend in demand as the nation officially enters the dry season. With the demand levels averaging at 10,600 MW this March, the Market Operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) noted an 8.38% increase in the previous month’s figure, equivalent to 820 MW.

Additionally, the rise in demand levels in the system may be largely attributable to the imposition of Alert Level 1 in Metro Manila last 01 March, which was later on followed by the implementation of a lesser restrictive alert level status in other provinces that took effect last 16 March. So far, the peak demand of the year was recorded on 23 March which amounted to around 13,749MW; thereby, surpassing the peak demand of the previous month which was at 11,985 MW. Likewise, the said value was noted to surpass the peak demand levels of the previous years during the same month and even that of the annual peak demand during the pre-pandemic year (2019).

The same trend was also evident in the regional peak demand in both Luzon and Visayas. Luzon peak demand was recorded at around 11,617MW which exceeded the annual figures from 2019 to 2021. As for Visayas, its peak demand this month amounted to 2,143 MW which also breached the pre-pandemic levels.

However, the increasing demand was accompanied by sufficient supply levels which amounted to around 13,456 MW or 5.41% (695 MW) greater than that of February 2022. This is mostly due to the resumption of operations by the generators that were on outage at the earlier periods of the year.

Despite the increase in supply, the average margin for this month decreased by 4.04% which then led to an even greater average price of 6.97 PhP/kWh compared to the 6.19 PhP/kwh figure of the last month.

For the market transactions, during the month of February, the spot market transactions accounted for 9.2% percent of all metered quantities or 616 GWh. This is higher than the recorded amount of spot quantities last January which had a 5.1% or 302 GWh share of all the transactions. Meanwhile, the Effective Settlement Spot Price (ESSP) for the said month amounted to 6.51 PhP/kWh which was lower than that of January at 7.02 PhP/kWh.

As the country prepares for the dry season and the upcoming national and local elections, IEMOP will closely monitor the market results in line with its commitment to provide transparent, efficient, and reliable market solutions and services that will power a brighter future for every Filipino household.

With the continuous resumption of business operations along with the expected recovery of the economy, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) recorded the highest peak load in Luzon for the year, as of date, amounting to around 11,513 MW yesterday, 22 March 2022, at 1414H.

Previously recorded at 11,392 MW last 17 March 2022 at 1429H, the Market Operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) has noted the increasing demand in the grid since the lowering of alert levels and easing of community quarantine restrictions within the major areas in Luzon.

Although the demand has yet to reach the Department of Energy’s (DOE) projected Luzon Annual Peak Demand of 12,387 MW this summer, the 11,513 MW peak demand is already near the 2021 Actual Peak Demand of the region which was at around 11,601 MW. Likewise, the peak demand recorded for the month has already surpassed its counterpart figures during the same month last 2020 which was during the pre-pandemic period.

Meanwhile for Visayas, the same pattern remains to be evident with its highest recorded peak being recorded on the same day, by far, at 2,124 MW – almost within the pre-pandemic levels. Again, this figure is yet to coincide with the DOE’s Visayas Annual Peak Demand Forecast of 2,528MW.

Despite the increasing trend, supply remains to be sufficient to meet the demand system requirements. During the observed highest peak demand yesterday, there was around 12,136 MW supply in the Luzon grid and 2,396 MW in the Visayas grid.

As of 23 March, an adequate amount of supply is available with the average system supply amounting to around 13,962MW; there is an average of 11,719 MW and 2,244 MW available in the Luzon and Visayas grids, respectively.

IEMOP will continue to monitor the interaction of supply and demand in the system especially during this dry season and the upcoming national elections.

 

During its monthly media briefing, IEMOP discussed the highlights of WESM for February 2022 wherein a decrease in the average WESM rate from Php 7.07/kWh last January to Php 6.09/kWh this billing month was observed[1]. The price decline was attributed to the improvement of supply with the average supply increasing by 5.86% or 771 MW with the resumption of operations of several generators form maintenance outage.

The WESM rate declined this month despite the  upsurge of system average demand by as much of 14.47% (1,236 MW). Similarly, the system peak demand went up from 11,018 MW last January to 11,985 MW. On the regional level, Luzon peak demand, increased by 6.48% (612 MW) from 9,444 MW and Visayas peak demand by 13.68% (234 MW) from 1,710 MW.

The Effective Settlement Spot Price (ESSP) for January 2022, however, settled at Php 7.02/kWh higher than the Php 6.20 /kWh ESSP for December 2021. The higher prices for January also reflected in the volume of the spot transaction which reduced from 8.3% in December 2021 to just 5.1% this January 2022. On the other hand, the total spot percentage decreased for this period from 8.3% to 5.1%. The total generation quantity for the January 2022 was recorded at 6,169 GWh.

IEMOP also gave a summary of its supply and demand outlook for the coming months, particularly from March to June, wherein they presented various scenarios that might occur. Given the increasing trend in demand due to the warmer climate, the Market Operator projects a generally sufficient supply condition enough to support the requirements during summer barring any major power plant unplanned outage.  IEMOP also noted its continuing coordination with DOE, NGCP and WESM stakeholders in Mindanao in anticipation of the commercial operations of WESM in Mindanao especially with the pending testing and commissioning of the Visayas-Mindanao 450 MW submarine cable interconnection. With this, IEMOP assured its stakeholders that it would constantly provide updates should there be any remarkable developments in the projections as well as in the WESM.

 

[1] Figure as of 25 February 2022.

To kick start the new year, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) immediately worked on the market developments in its pipeline along with the stakeholder engagement activities that are geared to apprise the trading participants on the latest policies and processes in the WESM.

At the same time, in pursuit of providing efficient, transparent, and reliable market management, IEMOP, as part of Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Task Force Elections, has been in constant coordination with DOE and other stakeholders to ensure the steady and reliable stream of electricity supply for the coming months. This is deemed crucial given the foreseen increase in demand brought about by the change in weather during summer and the upcoming May 2022 Presidential Elections. To ensure the general public of the sufficient supply of electricity, the DOE approved the 2022-2024 Grid Operating and Maintenance Program (GOMP) which serves as a framework in ensuring that the electricity supply meets the demand to prevent any possible supply shortages. For this to come into fruition, IEMOP further emphasized the need for fervent cooperation and strict adherence of the market participants as the key elements to its success.

IEMOP presented different supply scenarios for the summer of 2022. In its simulations using typical generator offers and the DOE-forecasted peak demand, there is no projected energy supply shortage. In addition, even if there is 1000MW additional unscheduled outage, the supply in the grid can still sustain the demand. However, IEMOP emphasized that GOMP compliance is the key for sufficient supply in the summer of 2022.

The Market Operator presented the supply and demand projections from February to June 2022 along with the market operations highlights during the last quarter of 2021 until the present.

As of 25 January 2022, this month witnessed a higher average price of 6.98 PhP/kWh compared to that of the previous month’s average of 6.43 PhP/kWh due to forced and planned outages of major plants which later on resulted to the imposition of a Secondary Price Cap. It should be noted, however, that both average supply and demand decreased based on a month-on-month comparison. From 9,232 MW, the average supply this January lowered down by 4.41% to 8,544 MW. Meanwhile, the average demand of 12,702 MW decreased by 7.45% to 12,142 MW.

The same for the system peak demand during the last two (2) months of 2021 wherein it recorded a decrease from 12,675 MW last November to 12,096 MW the following month. This pattern was also observed in the regional peak demands, with the decrease in Luzon peak demand by 551 MW (5.22%) from 10,550 MW in November; Visayas peak demand also went down from 2,154 MW to 2,135 MW (0.88%).

As for the market transactions, the Effective Settlement Spot Price (ESSP) increased from 5.15 PhP/kWh in November to 6.20 PhP/kWh in December. On the other hand, the total spot percentage decreased for this period from 12.2% to 8.3%. The generation for the December spot transactions was recorded at 6,219 GWh.

In the coming year, IEMOP reiterates its commitment to facilitate a world-class service to the participants and stakeholders for a better and brighter future of the WESM.