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| Wednesday Nov 13, 2024 | |
| Almost halfway through November, the leaves are looking barer from the loss of their fall color and mornings are chillier here in the Pacific Northwest. All signs are pointing toward the changing of the season. While there is more than a month left until the official start of winter, those in the energy industry are already looking ahead for what’s to come. In the Pacific Northwest, a La Nina winter has set the expectation for a wetter, colder winter. The last week has certainly delivered on the rain as the downpours have been strong and are expected to continue throughout this week. Skiers and snowboarders, especially, are enjoying the precipitation as the nearby Mt. Hood Meadows resort just announced their opening date, the earliest in over a decade due to the resulting snowpack. » read more | |
| Tuesday Nov 12, 2024 | |
| In our latest monthly report titled “October Summerfest”, we highlight the unique seasonal shift that occurred this October, with warmer-than-usual temperatures across the Lower 48. Traditionally, October signals a transition toward colder temperatures, which prompts an increase in heating demand and shifts power demand patterns. Figure 1 | Summer Octoberfest – Beyond Expectations In the South Central region, warmer temperatures impacted ERCOT and SPP's load profiles, resulting in unusual net load profiles given the volatility in renewable energy landscape. The natural gas sector saw a significant increase in power burn compared to October 2023, as planned maintenance outages limited nuclear fleet supply. The report also highlights the strain on production ... » read more | |
| Monday Nov 11, 2024 | |
| Wind generation is something of a black sheep within CAISO’s renewable stack. While solar and batteries have grown rapidly in the last couple of years, wind has not. Its highly variable nature makes it difficult to plan around. This is true year-round, but the problem grows worse in the colder half of the year. Here, wind transitions from variable but on a predictable daily cycle, to variable with no daily cycle. Wind may not have seen the same growth as Solar and batteries, but 4+ GWs of inexpensive electricity still represent a pivotal piece of CAISO’s balancing equation, making keeping track of wind all the more important when it’s at its most variable. Figure 1 | CAISO Wind Generation 12 x 24 Our first figure shows average hourly wind generation by month, with 2024 ... » read more | |
| Friday Nov 8, 2024 | |
| The autumn season so far has been a warm one in Texas, with temperatures coming in above normal all but five days in October, and every day in November so far: Figure 1 | ERCOT Daily Average Temperatures, Oct – Nov 2024 The graph above comes from our latest Renewable Monthly report, which goes into detail on the market fundamentals in CAISO, ERCOT, SPP, MISO, and PJM, and shows the average daily temperature (top pane) and the departure from normal (bottom pane) within the ERCOT system. The context of “above normal” temperatures is important, and means different things depending on the region and time of year. For example, “above normal” temperatures in the winter can mean lower electricity demand since there is less need for heating, but in the summer it ... » read more | |
| Thursday Nov 7, 2024 | |
| Since the summer, congestion bottlenecks have been a topic of conversation for the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) region, leading to elevated SPP-South prices where a recurring theme was the correlation between high temperatures and spikes in congestion costs. These events have continued into the fall, which are the focus of our latest Special Report, “Congestion Challenges in SPP”, as well as touched upon in the context of the SPP renewable landscape this fall in our latest Renewable Monthly Report, “October 2024 – Cool Coasts, Interior Sunshine”. Mother Nature delivered late summer heat waves across SPP in September and October, as illustrated in Figure 1. The top pane of this figure displays the cooling degree days (CDDs), with orange indicating ... » read more | |
| Wednesday Nov 6, 2024 | |
| As voters across the country are tuning into election coverage this week, we're talking about EnergyGPS's coverage of batteries in this morning's blog. For our Platinum Plus subscribers, the start of a new month means more insights into the biggest battery fleets in the country. On the first of every month, EnergyGPS publishes a CAISO Monthly Battery Dashboard and ERCOT Monthly Battery Dashboard. In these dashboards, subscribers can compare average monthly RTM and DAM arbitrage values, along with ancillary service prices, battery buy and sell prices, and more. This weekend EnergyGPS also published a battery report, titled ‘Panini Press’. As a reminder, our battery reports are available to our Platinum Plus subscribers and are sorted into three categories: essential ... » read more | |
| Tuesday Nov 5, 2024 | |
| With clocks shifting back an hour this past weekend, many of us found ourselves readjusting microwaves, stoves, and car clocks—reminding us of the annual ritual of daylight-saving time. The earlier sunsets now cast a darker glow over late afternoons, signaling the start of shorter days and the gradual descent into winter. As temperatures drop and morning frosts begin to settle, coats and scarves come out of storage, and the anticipation of the holiday season starts to fill the air. These subtle yet familiar changes mark the year's end, preparing us for the colder, quieter months ahead. In the energy landscape, similar seasonal preparations are underway. Maintenance activities typically take place during fall and spring when demand is lower, allowing grids to manage without some of ... » read more | |
| Monday Nov 4, 2024 | |
| The end of Daylight Savings time is the second most confusing day of the year. Your circadian rhythm agrees with your microwave while the federal government agrees with your phone. This year it fell on a weekend, but it’s today that we really feel it. Every facet of our lives seemingly gets mixed up. The energy industry is no different. In fact, our industry holds some responsibility for this mess as it was first implemented as a measure to reduce coal consumption in WW1 Germany. If that’s still the case is an open question, but what’s a fact is that we’ve all had to puzzle over clocks ever since. You might be wondering; what day beats it out to take the top spot? That honor goes to the start of Daylight Savings time, with all the same problems but two hours less ... » read more | |
| Friday Nov 1, 2024 | |
| This time of year has several transitions in play starting with the end of the natural gas summer period and the official start of a new winter season as November is now in play. We also have daylight savings to contend with to which if you are in an IT department dealing with data feeds, the hour shift can cause issues that force stoppages that only occur twice a year. The final piece is tied to the holiday known as Halloween as the last day of October is preluded with purchasing small pieces of candy or full bars depending on the household with the hopes of moving the big bowl of goodies throughout the night. Once the doorbell stops ringing and the front porch light is turned off, the transition quickly turns to who is going to eat all the leftover candy and the ... » read more | |
| Thursday Oct 31, 2024 | |
| Sitting where we are just a few days away from the start of November, conversations and social media feeds are filling more and more with talk of the upcoming election. As polls tighten and the event draws near, much of the focus is being put on the so-called “swing states”—the small number of battleground states where the election is expected to be close and the results will determine who the next US president will be. Now, in the heart of the Pacific Northwest there is not a lot of talk around swing states, with Oregon and Washington considered to be safe for Harris while Idaho and Montana are firmly in the Trump camp, but there is another type of swing on the way for the region here at the start of November—a swing in Northwest hydro. Figure 1 | 2024 ... » read more | |