Power reserve market starts full commercial operations

The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) commenced yesterday the full commercial operations of the reserve market, a development seen as a significant step forward for the energy sector.

The full commercial operations of the reserve market enables the participation of all certified ancillary service (AS) providers in the scheduling and dispatch process in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) for the provision of regulation, contingency or dispatchable ancillary services.

It enables all power generation companies with generating capacity or units capable of providing AS to offer and sell AS even without an ancillary service procurement agreement (ASPA) with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

“The full commercial operations of the reserve market heralds a new era of competitive power supply procurement with the end goal of ensuring sufficient and reliable power supply for our country,” said IEMOP, which serves as the market operator.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), AS or reserves are services needed to maintain balance in the power system to ensure normal frequency and voltage levels in response to demand changes, variability of renewable energy and possible loss of a large generating unit.

The reserve market, which is integrated into the WESM, aims to co-optimize energy and reserves.

The DOE said this would result in optimal schedules and prices for energy and reserve requirements, fostering competition and affordability while ensuring grid security and reliability.