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| Friday Feb 14, 2025 | |
| With 2024 data complete, EGPS presented this week its annual "Renewables Award" publication (included in each of the EnergyGPS eCommerce Packages offered to interested parties), where it provides an overview of the highs and lows for regions and technologies in this past year and presenting individual “Renewies” for various categories. In our report, and at the imaginary gala-awards ceremony dinner that went with it, we awarded the Most and Least Valuable Generation-Weighted Prices, Capture Ratio Leaders and Laggards, and Market Share Big Kahunas and Comeback Kids. The results for 2024 are shown below in Figure 1. Figure 1 | Renewies 2024 Summary Although 2024 wasn’t quite the blowout year that 2023 was, especially in ERCOT, it was a solid ... » read more | |
| Thursday Feb 13, 2025 | |
| While southern California—and the Palisades in particular—have been subject to catastrophic wildfires and very dry weather conditions, further north within the same state, California has enjoyed healthy precipitation and snowfall. The figure below shows two images from our California Snow Water Dashboard, which plots daily total snow water equivalent by region. The North versus South difference is shown below and illustrates the stark divide in precipitation across the state so far in 2025. Starting in the North, snow accumulated quickly in December and took another big step upward at the beginning of February to keep total snowpack right in line with the historical average (and ahead of 2024 at this point in the water year). By contrast, in the South ... » read more | |
| Wednesday Feb 12, 2025 | |
| We have all been in a situation where someone has said, “just close your eyes and imagine……”. When you open them back up, life goes back to what it was but for a moment there was this imagery of peer bliss if you picture the sandy beaches on an island somewhere in the world or enjoying a trip to a popular destination of choice. In the energy space, it is hard to imagine a world without renewables as the penetration levels have turned into a transition period where many ISOs have reached into the Phase 2 bucket where curtailments are a common theme, especially during the midday block of hours as the sun shines and the solar generation comes in the form or rooftop and industrial-sized farms placed strategically across the country. Figure 1 | Close Your ... » read more | |
| Tuesday Feb 11, 2025 | |
| In our latest renewable monthly report, we discuss how January set the stage for 2025 in U.S. renewable energy markets, highlighting key trends in generation, demand, and pricing. CAISO saw relatively mild weather conditions, allowing solar generation to surge. However, this expansion also brought challenges such as curtailments and pricing impacts. Wind generation remained consistent, while battery storage played a vital role in energy dispatch despite some disruptions. Figure 1. CAISO Average Hourly Wind and Solar Generation (MW) In ERCOT, cold weather events influenced demand, leading to notable shifts in energy consumption. Wind and solar continued their upward trajectory, reinforcing their growing role in the region’s energy mix. Battery storage also showed increased ... » read more | |
| Monday Feb 10, 2025 | |
| Here in Portland’s winters, when we have suffered through months of rain, cold, and short days, people start dreaming of more southerly latitudes. We start researching vacations to Mexico’s jungles, Arizona’s deserts, or California’s beaches. It would seem our power sector is doing just about the same, as many of the MWs we are using to stave away the cold are arriving from our warmer neighbor. Although, with resulting spikes in energy prices, participants in PNW power markets likely have more headaches than dreams due to the Golden State. Figure 1 | PNW Temperature Forecast and Difference From Normal It is easy to describe the Pacific Northwest winters, at least along the I-5 corridor, in just three words: 50's and rainy. That description, however, does not ... » read more | |
| Friday Feb 7, 2025 | |
| Forest Park is one of the crown jewels of Portland. It is one of the country’s largest urban forest reserves. It covers about 5,200 acres on a hill that starts just above downtown Portland and goes many miles to the north. The iconic Rose Garden sits on the southern end, just up the hill from downtown. The northern end of Forest Park sits above an industrial area that runs along the Willamette River. Just a few hundred feet from the northern portion of the park sits Portland’s garbage processing facility as well as many acres of oil tanks. There are also two major electricity transmission right of ways which cut directly through the park. There is substantial energy infrastructure at the bottom of the northern part of the park. And there are large load centers sitting in ... » read more | |
| Thursday Feb 6, 2025 | |
| Renewables are off to a strong start in 2025 after rapid growth during the previous year in markets across the country from CAISO in the West to ERCOT in the South Central and over to MISO and PJM in the Midwest/Northeast. Renewables have been showing out to start off the new year, and our latest Monthly report (part of our eCommerce Platinum package) goes into the impact of renewables so far in 2025. The massive growth in solar coupled with strong wind kept lower 48 net load numbers low compared to January of 2024 despite the strongest monthly total HDDs of the past 10+ years, with ERCOT as a perfect example of how the growth has played out. Figure 1 | ERCOT 12x24 Profiles The figure above plots average hourly load, renewable generation, and net load by month from 2023 through the ... » read more | |
| Wednesday Feb 5, 2025 | |
| With Portland’s first potential snowfall this week, it’s hard to imagine that shoulder season is just around the corner. In Texas, however, it might seem much more reasonable as highs of 80 degrees rule the temperature forecasts this week. For nuclear plants across the country, preparation for outage season is already in full swing. The first few nuclear plants have started to power down with generation slowly dropping from 100% online. Throughout the spring, they will spend up to a month or more completely offline to perform necessary maintenance as part of their refueling cycles. The first is scheduled to begin as soon as next week. Here at EnergyGPS, we monitor nuclear outages in several dashboards, including our NRC Nuclear Plant Summary dashboard. The figure below is ... » read more | |
| Tuesday Feb 4, 2025 | |
| The Palisades and Eaton fires in Southern California are now fully contained, but the aftermath presents significant challenges. Cleanup efforts are underway, with hazardous materials and toxic waste posing risks, particularly due to the presence of lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles, which could reignite and cause explosions. Meanwhile, displaced families are struggling to find shelter, adding another layer of complexity to the recovery. These challenges highlight the broader implications of energy transitions and disaster management, making it crucial to assess how infrastructure and policies can adapt to such crises. Figure 1 | Next Phase – California Fires and Weather As the recovery continues, California’s weather patterns are shifting, bringing an ... » read more | |
| Monday Feb 3, 2025 | |
| Recent developments have brought the energy industry into the spotlight, with the possibility for the new executive branch to put a heavy finger on the scales of market movements via 10% tariffs to take effect on February 4th. The potential impacts are broad, but we have our eyes glued to natural gas markets. Figure 1 | 7 Day Moving Average of Natural Gas Imports from Canada to the US The above figure gives a year over year of America’s natural gas imports from the Great White North over the course of the year. The current winter season has seen impressive demand for Canadian gas, with this year regularly exceeding the previous two. Since the end of the East’s artic blast demand has cooled and will likely fall further as we move towards spring. Still, even in the depth of the ... » read more | |