The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) is preparing for the full commercial operations of the renewable energy market (REM) by December 2024.
REM is a venue for buying and selling renewable energy certificates—a market-based instrument representing the property rights and other non-power attributes of renewable electricity generation.
“It is a market that facilitates the compliance of the mandated participants… They are the electric cooperatives, distribution utilities, retail suppliers, to source percentage of their electricity sales from RE and the instrument to measure that is RE certificate,” IEMOP corporate planning and communications manager Arjon Valencia said.
Valencia said a 1-megawatt-hour of RE generation is equivalent to one RE certificate, the Energy Regulatory Commission setting a price cap of P241 per RE certificate.
The certificates will be used for compliance with the renewable portfolio standards—a policy mechanism that requires electric power industry participants such as generators, distribution utilities and suppliers to source or produce a specified fraction of their electricity from eligible RE resources.
“The target is 35 percent [RE] by 2030. This market will facilitate that. And yes, the mandated participants can source from the RE market if their power supply agreements are enough to have that percentage,” he said.
Valencia said the Department of Energy would promulgate a department circular declaring the full commercial operations.
“Right now, it’s on interim commercial operations since 2022. And the current RE registrar is PEMC [Philippine Electricity Market Corp.], but we’re expecting to have the functions transferred to IEMOP simultaneous with the declaration of commercial operations,” he said.
PEMC is the governance arm of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the trading floor of electricity while IEMOP is the operator.
The RE registrar issues, keeps and verifies RE certificates corresponding to energy generated from eligible facilities under Section 8 of the Renewable Energy Act.
Valencia said PEMC and IEMOP would also submit a joint certification that the market is ready even as the RE market transaction fees remain pending.
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