Sixteen business chambers from all over the Visayas reached a consensus to prod the administration to give a green light to the commercial operation of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in the Visayas.
During the recently concluded 2008 Visayas Area Business Conference, the business sector in the region highlighted its concern on the looming power crisis, and that an immediate action from the Department of Energy (DoE) is deemed necessary as soon as possible.
In a resolution, the business sector across the Visayas is calling the attention of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to instruct the DoE to take action on the pending commercial operation of WESM, which has been stalled for a couple of months now.
DoE has deferred WESM operations in the Visayas due to inadequate capacity in both power generation and transmission facilities, as revealed in a study conducted by consultancy firm Intelligent Energy Systems (IES).
WESM operator Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) has said it was ready to operate the market. WESM Visayas has been on trial operations since 2005.
PEMC had targeted to go live in the Visayas last January. Commercial operations was postponed to February, then to March and further to April 26, until the DoE deferred market operations based on findings from the IES study.
The power supply situation in Cebu, Negros and Panay is projected to stabilize in early 2010 with the completion of the first of the three 82-megawatt coal-fired plants that are being built by the consortium of Global Business Power Corp., Formosa Heavy Industries and Abovant Holdings (a joint venture of Aboitiz Power Corp. and Vivant Corp.)
In a text message, PEMC president Lasse A. Holopainen said that the commercial operation of the WESM-Visayas will depend on the DoE’s go signal.
Holopainen emphasized that "ultimately, the electricity supply problems in the Visayas must be addressed. Otherwise the quality and consistency of supply in the region will continue to deteriorate.