DOE rejects bids for temporary power plant shutdowns

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THE Department of Energy (DOE) has directed all Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) participants to adhere to existing rules and regulations and continue their trading operations for sufficient and continuous power supply during the enhanced community quarantine period.

The DOE made this issuance after some WESM trading participants requested to shut down some of their generating units for economic reasons due to the significant decline in electricity demand of the Luzon and Visayas Grids.

In a memo dated March 23, DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said WESM participants shall continue to operate normally unless there are circumstances that warrant the imposition of intervention or suspension.

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The order stated all trading participants shall continue to submit offers to the WESM in line with their obligations as generation companies to exercise prudence in the submission of their offers to maintain market integrity and power system security.

The order said no generation company shall be allowed to shut down their generating units for purposes other than planned maintenance, forced outages due to technical problems or as may be advised by the systems operator for purposes of balancing supply and demand due to excess generation.

It said in cases of excess generation, the market operator and the systems operator will closely coordinate and undertake mitigating measures to manage its likely effects to the grid.

“I am calling for the utmost cooperation and compliance of our industry participants at this time. A decline in power demand does not mean that operations could and should be put to rest. In fact, as we battle the COVID-19 crisis, now is the time for us to double our efforts to ensure that we can provide sufficient and continuous electricity services to each and every household, as well as across key industries of our country,” Cusi said.

Earlier this week, San Miguel Corp. expressed the need to scale down power production to save on fuel to secure supply for the next coming months.

 

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