The Department of Energy will likely launch the commercial operations of the Renewable Energy Market next year, an official said Tuesday.
Energy assistant secretary Mylene Capongcol said the department was preparing the readiness criteria for the REM.
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.
The Philippine Electricity Market Corp. launched the interim commercial operations of the REM in August.
“The REM will incentivize the harnessing of our wealth of natural resources, bringing in additional, more sustainable sources of electricity. We welcome this diversification that will safeguard our energy supply security,” said former PEMC president Leonido Pulido III.
PEMC is the designated RE registrar, which will issue, keep and verify RE certificates corresponding to energy generated from eligible facilities under Section 8 of the Renewable Energy Act.
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.
PEMC, as the DOE-designated RER, issues one REC for every megawatt-hour of actual generation from eligible RE facilities to REM participants.
PEMC commenced the REM participant registration in early 2020 and processed and approved about 96 percent of the applications upon completing all the requirements.
PEMC is the governing body of the WESM, the centralized venue for buyers and sellers to trade electricity as a commodity where its prices are determined based on actual use (demand) and availability (supply).