Featured Articles
Monday Jun 19, 2017 | |
After some heat showing up in the Midwest and East over a week ago, it is time for the West to get into some of the action as Phoenix is expected to hit 120 degrees by Tuesday while California is looking at Sacramento inching towards triple digits while Burbank is in the high 90's. Figure 1 | Sacramento Actual/Forecast ... » read more | |
Friday Jun 16, 2017 | |
At EnergyGPS we spend most days analyzing wholesale electricity markets in some form. Take for example, on our consulting side of the business we spend a lot time working on asset valuations for developers, asset owners, buyers, and investors. We encounter retail markets somewhat indirectly. It usually relates to a retail buyer of some stripe (e.g., utility, community ... » read more | |
Thursday Jun 15, 2017 | |
Over the past week, the California market has seen the Renewable Curtailments come full circle as the 13th saw mostly local congestion causing the CAISO system operators to cut solar in SP15. Prior to that, the weekend was seeing the curtailments in the form of what they call system wide reductions. That translates into the grid is long power and the only ... » read more | |
Wednesday Jun 14, 2017 | |
Heading into this week the natural gas and power markets were filled with anticipation as the first real heat wave was set to hit the US. As a result, the market had high expectations for gas demand with the consensus calling for power burns to settle in the low to mid 30's (BCF) for Monday and Tuesday. Fast forward to today, we reflect back on the past two days ... » read more | |
Tuesday Jun 13, 2017 | |
It has been a mild spring across the Lower 48. There have been few heat events and the electricity systems have behaved somewhat orderly compared to previous years despite a very robust outage sesason. Mother Nature flipped the switch yesterday turning spring into summer in a matter of hours. From Friday into Monday the daytime highs from Chicago over to the I-95 corridor ... » read more | |
Monday Jun 12, 2017 | |
This past weekend was setting up to be more like an April weekend day rather than a typical June Saturday or Sunday when it comes to the power load across the West as well as the renewable generation. Starting in the Pacific Northwest, we saw the weather go from clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine to that of overcast weather with plenty of rainfall. In fact ... » read more | |
Friday Jun 9, 2017 | |
Power markets are curious beasts. They really are!! Electricity is a vital commodity with no substitutes (at least in the short term) and limited ability to store. Furthermore, for most consumers reading this newsletter, electricity is quite a bargain compared to the benefit consumers derive from the product. At least for me, you could increase the price of electricity by ... » read more | |
Thursday Jun 8, 2017 | |
The loss of the Aliso Canyon storage facility in the SoCal Gas system continues to plague California. The cavern was shut down in February of 2016 after a massive leak of natural gas was plugged. It took almost a year for residents evacuated from the area to return to their homes. Prior to the leak, the storage caverns were a ... » read more | |
Wednesday Jun 7, 2017 | |
On May 31st Brayton Point coal shut its doors for good pulling 1,600 MWs of capacity out of the market. The unit was the last coal plant in Massachusetts and the largest non-NG fired generator in ISONE. Figure 1 | Brayton Point Coal Plant ... » read more | |
Tuesday Jun 6, 2017 | |
As we enter the month of June, the hydro system in the Pacific Northwest usually sees its generation shift down as the storage facilities are in full refill mode. This year is looking to be an outlier when you compare it to the past two years as the generation output continue to be strong with no sight of the foot coming off the gas pedal. » read more |