Marcos sees lower power rates in Mindanao with launching of WESM

FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of the Office of the President

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Monday that the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in Mindanao would prompt investments and economic activity in the region, particularly in manufacturing and other energy-intensive industries.

According to him, the WESM will eventually generate jobs and opportunities for residents and affect power pricing since it encourages generators to compete and sell their electricity at a lower price to secure a dispatch schedule.

“Indeed, the presence of WESM in Mindanao and an interconnected and interdependent grid in the country will not only ensure a level playing field in the competitive energy market but will also provide assurance to investors,” Marcos said during the ceremonial launching of WESM in the Mindanao Grid in Malacañang.

“In the long run, WESM will help in sustaining power generation investments to meet the ever-growing electricity demand,” he added.

READ: WESM Mindanao operations set for next year

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) explained that WESM is a centralized venue for trading electricity for large-scale buyers and sellers and aims to establish a competitive, efficient, transparent, and reliable market for electricity.

With the integration of the three main grids in WESM, Marcos said the country could hopefully achieve its goal of having a joint WESM for the entire country and of attaining total capacity for the Philippines’ power demands.

READ: Electricity spot market prices on the rise

He added that the launching of WESM is also an essential step in rationalizing the nation’s power capacity and distribution, hoping the drop in fuel prices in the world market would lead to lower power costs not only for industrial users but also for household consumers.

The PCO said Mindanao has an electrification rate of 87% and WESM in Mindanao will have a “crucial role” in the successful operation of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) since it allows efficient transmission and settlement of electricity exchanges.

Mindanao currently has 4,321 megawatts of registered capacity, while its peak demand is only at around 2,167 megawatts, the PCO noted.

READ: Spot electricity 7% costlier in December

With the establishment of WESM in Mindanao, the PCO also said that around 2,000 megawatts of uncontracted capacities could be sold in WESM and be dispatched at any given time, supplying to distribution utilities, electric cooperatives and other end-users when their contracted power plants are not available.

The government established WESM in Luzon in 2006, making the Philippines the first developing nation in Asia to introduce WESM successfully.

READ: Power plant outages push up WESM prices

In 2010, WESM was likewise established in the Visayas.

With the presence of WESM in Mindanao, the President said the country now looks forward to completing the MVIP by end-March this year, which will benefit the people of Mindanao and the Visayas through the transmission of electric power between these islands.

kga/abc