Transmission service provider and grid operator National
Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is working on an online site that
will help grid customers in the operation of the Interim Mindanao Electricity
Market (IMEM).
The NGCP-initiated site at http://imem.ngcp.ph will be used
to upload and download generators’ and load customers’ capacity nomination data
and schedules for the use of all players in the electricity market in Mindanao.
This is in support of the Department of Energy’s (DOE)
efforts to deliver sustainable solutions to stabilize the Mindanao power
situation. In its Department Circular No. DC2013-01-0001 dated January 9, 2013,
the DOE ordered the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) to develop
and implement an interim electricity market specifically designed for the
Mindanao grid, which has been experiencing brownouts due to a power supply
deficit.
The commercial operation of the IMEM is scheduled to
commence on September 26. Trial operation has been ongoing since August 26.
“NGCP remains supportive of the initiatives of DOE and PEMC
and is very much willing to assist in finding solutions to the electric power
concerns in Mindanao. IMEM is the first step to ensure free and fair
competition and public accountability,” NGCP Spokesperson Cynthia D.
Perez-Alabanza said.
“This electricity market in Mindanao focuses on filling-up
the power deficiency in the grid. NGCP will be in a better position to balance
the available capacities with the demand and manage constraints if the relevant
data from all generators and load customers are submitted and accounted for.
This is how crucial the infrastructure of the web-based program is to the
operation of the IMEM,” added Ermelindo R. Bugaoisan Jr., NGCP’s Systems and
Standards Head of the Technical Services Department.
DOE is said to be in talks with embedded generators for the
installation of Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) devices that are compliant with the
requirements of the IMEM. Embedded generators are end-users or entities whose
generating units are indirectly connected to the grid through the distribution
utility’s lines and may also refer to generation facilities of large industrial
customers, within the distribution utility’s network, that are synchronized to
the grid.
For its part, aside from developing the online program for
the submission and management of generators-load customers’ capacity
nomination, generation scheduling and data provision, NGCP is also expediting
the installation of WESM-compliant revenue metering facilities among its
directly connected grid customers.
Among its 15 grid-connected generator customers with 36
metering points, NGCP already installed 26 IMEM-ready metering facilities.
“The biggest challenge is in Agus 6 complex where five (5)
metering facilities still need to be installed,” said Emmanuel M. Sotomil,
NGCP’s Metering Services Head. He explained that in this case, large instrument
transformers will have to be hauled, mounted on pedestals, then tapped to
high-voltage overhead lines. NGCP has been coordinating with the power plant owner-operator
National Power Corporation (NPC) because the lines should be de-energized and
some of the plant generating units should be shut down for the installation to
be completed.
Among its 53 grid-connected load customers (i.e.
distribution utilities and non-distribution utilities) with 184 metering
points, NGCP already installed 180 IMEM-ready metering facilities. Yet to be
installed are metering facilities inside two military camps in Iligan and NPC’s
Regional Office and its Ditucalan Complex, both also located in Iligan.
The IMEM is expected to address the need to establish a
venue for transparent and efficient utilization of all available capacities,
particularly during periods where the contracted supply capacities of the load
customers, such as the distribution utilities and industrial customers, are not
enough to meet the demand.
IMEM is also intended to reflect the true cost of
electricity and, therefore, encourage the dispatch and utilization of existing
available power generating facilities and/or to attract the entry of new
generating capacities in Mindanao.
As such, the successful operations of the IMEM would be
dependent on the finalization and approval of the Dispatch Protocol by the DOE
and PEMC, and the full cooperation of the grid-connected generators, customers
and prospective IMEM suppliers.
According to the DOE Circular, the IMEM will have a
day-ahead market wherein market participants submit their nominations a day
before the actual delivery or curtailment of energy. All generation capacities,
directly connected customers, and distribution customers shall be part of a
mandatory program that aims to address only the deficiency of supply in the
grid.
It also provides for energy efficiency incentives meant to
contribute to the supply in the grid, real time imbalance correction through
the use of a merit order table (provided by the IMEM operator), which will have
the same principles and features of the merit order table used in the Luzon and
the Visayas grids.
