(Picture Credit: EMA)
The Energy Market Company (EMC) has been instrumental in Singapore's drive towards promoting competitive energy prices and improving the efficiency of the power generation sector--and the next three years will see significant new developments, Toh Seong Wah, Senior Vice President, Market Operations & Information Technology, told the Singapore Electricity Roundtable at SIEW.
EMC was formed in 2001 to operate the National Electricity Market of Singapore (NEMS). Over the years, EMC has played an instrumental role in ensuring accurate settlement of energy prices and schedule. It has been providing astute market governance and surveillance, and driving timely market evolution through changes in market rules.
Toh explained that NEMS has seen a series of transformative changes since its commencement in 2003. These include the introduction of vesting contracts in 2004, enhancements in the calculation models of the market clearing engine in 2006, as well as changes in market rules pertaining to embedded generators in 2011.
These market transformations are indicative of how dynamic the energy sector is and expresses the importance for EMC, with the support of the Energy Market Authority of Singapore (EMA), in establishing well-defined processes and frameworks.
Over recent years--until the third quarter of 2012--almost every aspect of the energy market across the energy value chain has seen significant positive growth, even during the weaker GDP growths in the 2008-2009 periods. From the generation standpoint, the electricity supply offer price has grown steadily since 2003, in tandem with the consistent increase in oil prices over the same period. This is represented by a 15 percent drop in the proportion of electricity supplied at a price below S$200/MWh over the last decade.
Toh said at the consumer end of the value chain, electricity consumption has also grown steadily at an average year-on-year rate of about 3.3% over the last 10-year period.
According to Toh, the next three years will potentially see the introduction of about nine new generation planting units, adding a total energy supply of about 3,000MW into the market. These upcoming generation plants will largely comprise Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) units, which are far more efficient compared with conventional power generation turbines, indicating a marked shift towards more efficient technologies and processes.
By :Muhammed Suhaimi, EMA