First Gen welcomes PEMC plan

First Gen Corp. has welcomed the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) plan to create a Visayas wholesale electricity spot market (WESM).

Peter Garrucho Jr., First Gen vice chairman and CEO, said that putting up WESM in that region would help spur competition.

"We are most supportive of that move. I think, the country has the capability to integrate the systems," Garrucho said.

Garrucho said the presence of WESM Visayas would encourage investors to construct more power facilities in that province.

He said First Gen, in fact, has been eyeing Visayas as one of the potential sites for investments in the future.

"We are always looking for opportunities. We are openly saying that we will be bidding for Palinpinon geothermal power plant located in Leyte," he said.

Garrucho said they are also looking forward to working with the electric cooperatives in Visayas.

The First Gen executive is also optimistic that if there would be more projects that would be constructed in Visayas, power rates would also eventually go down.

"If more projects would be put up, it would reduce prices in the long run," he said.

PEMC is currently seeking the approval of the Department of Energy (DOE) on the integration of the Visayas market.

The market operator is targeting to have the Visayas WESM going by the second quarter of this year.