• The IES audit certifies ACEN’s trading platform as 100% compliant to the legal and operational requirements of WESM’s market participant interface
  • ACEN is the first energy company in the Philippines to receive a software compliance certification from IES
  • The certification establishes ACEN’s credibility as a key player in the Philippine electricity market

1 March 2024 – ACEN, Ayala group’s listed energy platform, today announced a significant milestone with its energy trading platform, receiving full compliance certification from Intelligent Energy Systems (IES). This endorsement not only underscores ACEN’s adherence to the Philippine Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) standards but also positions the company as the first in the country to secure such validation from the renowned Australian advisory firm.

ACEN’s trading platform, developed by ACEN with a local third-party software developer, enables ACEN to seamlessly integrate its growing renewable portfolio into the WESM, facilitating generator offers and nominations, monitoring real-time schedules of all its Philippine assets and obtaining WESM data. An enhancement to the platform was done in 2021 in direct response to WESM’s transition from an hourly to a five-minute trading dispatch, a move that emphasizes ACEN’s foresight in the rapidly evolving energy market.

The rigorous IES assessment affirmed that ACEN’s trading platform is fully aligned with the Philippine grid code, WESM’s rules and dispatch protocols, and market manuals in terms of disclosure and confidentiality and the participation in the WESM.

Miguel de Jesus, ACEN COO for Philippine operations, said: “This certification reflects our proactive approach towards transparency and compliance in our software system as we lead the industry through innovation. Our stakeholders can trust in our platform’s capability to deliver not only transparency but also efficiency.

Michelle Bannister, IES CEO, said: “In our recent audit of ACEN’s  energy trading platform, we are pleased to announce that the platform has been certified to comply with the operational requirements of WESM’s market participant interface.  ACEN is the first market participant in the Philippines to have received software compliance certification from IES.  It establishes ACEN’s credibility as a market player in the Philippines electricity market.”

WESM operates under market rules as approved by the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to ensure that the objectives of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (RA 9136) are achieved. ACEN’s compliance with the market rules is a significant stride towards realizing these objectives, with the aim to be a catalyst for progress and sustainability in the Philippine power industry.

IES is an Australia-based advisory and consulting firm which has a proven software certification methodology that has been used in the compliance of different software systems and processes implemented by electricity market operators and market players. With its extensive experience in electricity market audits, IES has audited electricity markets throughout the Pacific region.