A new regulation will allow for regional energy transactions to be made by auction in annual installments.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Operators subscribed to the Electrical Interconnection System for Central American Countries (SIEPAC) will have a policy to regulate contracts and firm energy rights for term contracts of up to one year, through means of the Regional Electricity Integration Comission (CRIE ).
The main change that will occur with this step, according Elmundo.sv, is that "... registered operators will be able to sign energy contracts in annual installments and take better advantage of the interconnection line that crosses the countries in the region. Up until now, transactions in the regional electricity market were made in monthly terms and in cyclical opportunities. "
"... According to the resolution of the CRIE, the Regional Operating Body (EOR) will be responsible for assigning firm rights with annual validity. It will be done using an auction and the allocation processes will be made between December and June of every year. When firm rights are allocated annually, the total amount of the financial offer will be divided into 12 equal monthly amounts, although they can be assigned different powers each month. "
Regulation of long-term contracts is still pending:
"... Despite the progress made to date regarding the regional transmission line, the director of the Electricity Market for AES El Salvador pointed out that there are still limitations to the successful use of Siepac, such as the entry into the market of long-term firm rights, ie for energy contracts exceeding one year . The lack of longer-term contracts, for example, limits this generating and distributing company from signing a power contract with the Guatemalan company Hydro Xacbal, which from January 2012 should have provided the country 30 megawatts (MW) of power for 15 years, at a price of $116.50 per MW. "
The transport of electricity between El Salvador and Guatemala through the Electrical Interconnection System for the Countries of Central America is limited to 170 MW.
This is despite the fact that the Electric Interconnection System for Central American Countries (Siepac) has capacity to transmit 300 MW, said Luis Herrera, manager of the Wholesale Market Administrator (AMM) in Guatemala.
Guatemala is the most interested country in speeding up regulation establishing the model of firm contracts within the regional electricity market.
This was explained by Guatemalan Vice Minister of energy, Edwin Rodas.
The idea of this is to harness the Electrical Interconnection System for Central America (Siepac) not only for the sale of energy to other countries, but also to provide telecommunications services over optical fibers which these lines have.
The non-enactment of the Regional Electricity Market Regulations (RMER) is preventing the Guatemalan hydroelectric station Xacbal from selling 30MW to a distributor in El Salvador.
On 1st January the Hydroelectric station Xacbal, part of the Terra Group, should have initiated the sale of 30MW to Salvadoran distributor CAESS, according to a contract signed by both companies in 2008.
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