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| Monday Jan 4, 2021 | |
| 2020 has been something of a launchpad year for grid scale batteries. We saw our 1054 MW of battery capacity across the US balloon to 1435 MW in 2020, but that only begins to tell the whole story. We also saw the largest battery system in the world, Gateway Energy Storage, come online in August with 250MW/250MWh of capacity. That record is unlikely to stand for long, no matter how you measure it. There are 4 separate projects sized 250 MW or larger which are scheduled to come online next year, and 15 projects with 250 MWh or more of energy storage. In 2020, California’s large IOUs procured 1580 MW of battery capacity across three separate RFOs, with projects scheduled for completion in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Just a few weeks ago, Public Utility Commission of Nevada approved 338 MW of ... » read more | |
| Thursday Dec 31, 2020 | |
| Happy New Year to everyone!!! We hope your evening is filled with laughter and joy with your immediate family and potentially video conferencing with loved ones from afar at some point over the long weekend. Reflecting back on this past year, we have all been through a lot as the world we once knew has been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. It seems like so long ago that I was driving a 15-person van full of soccer players (being team manager for my daughter's team) from the hotel to the pitch, stopping for a bite to eat at some local food establishment and finding some activity to occupy their time when they were not in uniform. On the work front, the office banter has ceased and the morning meetings where we all congregate in the conference room to ... » read more | |
| Wednesday Dec 30, 2020 | |
| "El camaron que duerme se lo lleva la corriente" The current carries away the sleeping shrimp. This Mexican saying can be heard when someone is warning you not to sleep on an opportunity. In recent years, the Mexican gas market has been an opportunity for the U.S. In the modern shale boom era, the U.S.’ rise to prominence as one of the world’s top producers of oil and gas outpaced growth within the domestic demand market. This compelled the need to look abroad for markets to consume swelling U.S. production. In recent years, Mexico has become one such market. But – as with LNG – as the volume of gas the U.S. exports to Mexico increases, the opportunities for Mexican market fundamentals to impact U.S. » read more | |
| Tuesday Dec 29, 2020 | |
| Oh how the tables can turn on natural gas so quickly. Most of the Midcon, Midwest and Northeast enjoyed a white Christmas this year as several snowstorms ran through the regions. It was the culmination of a recovery in winter weather which was off to a slow start. November saw record warmth putting fears that a repeat of last winter was in the cards. NYMEX Henry hub fell from $3.30 down to $2.39 in just three weeks. But since the beginning of December the winter sentiment had been changing. Along with it came a bounce in natural gas prices as expectations of a white Christmas and normal January developed. It was all dashed once the Christmas holiday passed. The weather models once again turned on the blow torch. This makes it over a year since the weather has had any sustainable below ... » read more | |
| Monday Dec 28, 2020 | |
| When you grow up in an area of the country where there was always snow on the ground during the holidays. Once you move to an area of the country that has minimal chances of snow sticking while St. Nick comes down the chimney, your heart goes back to those childhood memories. On Sunday night, it was peer joy to turn on the television for the Green Bay Packers vs. Tennessee Titans football game in the heart of the Midwest (Green Bay) and see the thickness of the white snowflakes sticking to the ground. Figure 1 | The Snow was Falling This is not something that is going to be seen as we turn the corner to the New Year as the 15-day weather has warmed to a point that the accumulated HDD numbers have shifted down substantially with the latest model runs. Figure 2 | WSI Run on Run ... » read more | |
| Wednesday Dec 23, 2020 | |
| The word switchyard has a variety of meanings if you look it up on google. The one that is most common in the energy sector is tied to power generator where it lies directly adjacent to the facility. It is almost similar to a substation but does not have transformers and only operates at a single voltage level. It's main duty is the interconnection between generation and transmission. The generator bus (fed via the step up transformer) switches and diverts the power ont the feeder busses at the other end of the yard before it is sent out into the grid via transmission lines. Figure 1 | High Voltage Switchyard - Electrical Facility When it comes to the actual generator type that feeds the switchyard, the source comes in a variety of constructs such as nuclear ... » read more | |
| Tuesday Dec 22, 2020 | |
| Typically as the weather transitions from fall into winter the jet stream becomes more amplified. This amplification brings cooler air from the northern latitudes down across the continent. But over the past year the jet stream has seen little amplification leaving the continent with no sustained cold events. Last winter and this winter have been mild as a result. Another consequence of this pattern in the jet stream is that it is favorable for wind output. Both last winter and this winter have seen boosts not only in the overall wind capacity but also in usage factor over previous winters. Figure 1 | MISO, SPP and ERCOT Installed Wind and Output by Quarter Lower 48 wind output has set a number of successive records this year. This past November the output averaged 46.5 GWa ... » read more | |
| Monday Dec 21, 2020 | |
| The most noteable portion of the holiday season is upon us as Saint Nick is gathering the gift and getting his reindeer ready for the delivery down the chimneys. In the energy space, we are looking at a white holiday season in the Northeast while the Midwest is staving off any big weather storm so far. The South Central is walking a fine line between massive wind days that shift into the floor falling out from under it. Out West, the temperatures in California have been moderate but are looking at some colder weather on the horizon. The Pacific Northwest is swimming in precipitation and plenty of wind generation as it seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. Starting in the Northeast, last week delivered the first Nor'Eastern storm the jumped more snow than some ... » read more | |
| Friday Dec 18, 2020 | |
| On November 30th the Public Utility Commission of Nevada approved three new large-scale solar+storage projects. With this approval, NV Energy will meet its target of 1,000 MW of energy storage on its system. NV Energy submitted all three of these projects for approval with the Nevada Commission in July of 2020. The NV Energy filing with the Commission included the standard information about the projects. Interestingly, it also included detailed pricing. This blog takes a look at the implied dollar per MWh of the solar plus storage projects selected by NV Energy. The accompanying article for premium subscribers takes the math a little bit deeper and broader. It compares this portfolio of three projects to a benchmark combined cycle project, illustrating just how compelling the current ... » read more | |
| Thursday Dec 17, 2020 | |
| In the movie 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly', three men set off during the American Civil War to find two hundred thousand dollars in buried gold coins. The film was marketed as the third and final installment in the Dollars Trilogy following a Fistful of Dollars and For a Few More Dollars. It was a financial success growing over $25 million at the box office and it is credited with having catapulted Clint Eastwood's acting career and eventual stardom for decades to come. Figure 1 | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly In the energy space, this week has presented a similar trio that has not made it to the box office yet but definitely the internet and conversations across the internet as everyone continues to either work from home or in an office that is currently at no ... » read more | |