Featured Articles
| Thursday May 18, 2017 | |
| If you have been tracking the weather in the Pacific Northwest this spring, it would not surprise you that there is plenty of snowpack still left up in the mountains as we head into the last half of May. The reason for all this snowpack is tied to the below normal temperatures we have been having as well as plenty of precipitation in a month that is suppose to bring us ... » read more | |
| Wednesday May 17, 2017 | |
| As the renewable story continues to unfold in CAISO, we have been closely watching the balance between over-generation and negative prices this spring. The CAISO Curtailments dashboard is an invaluable tool as it shows how much renewable generation is getting curtailed due to over supply in the RT. The report breaks the MWs out by wind or solar, but also indicates ... » read more | |
| Tuesday May 16, 2017 | |
| Starting today, the eastern half of the United States will see its first taste of hot weather. From Chicago over to the I-95 corridor and down to the Southeast, daytime highs will move up 8-15 degrees above normal. Overnight lows across the Midwest and East are moving up to the low 70's which will bring cooling demand around the clock. From today into Thursday, the PJM ... » read more | |
| Monday May 15, 2017 | |
| Entering the weekend, all the stars were aligned for renewable curtailments to exist. The first element is tied to the load schedules shifting down with cooler temperatures as well as it being a Saturday and Sunday profile. Figure 1 | CAISO Load Day-Ahead Schedules - Hourly ... » read more | |
| Friday May 12, 2017 | |
| Word broke this week that Calpine is actively looking for a buyer. The Wall Street Journal provided the following summary of the situation: “The Houston company, which owns 80 power plants and has a so-called enterprise value of more than $16 billion, is working with investment bankers at Lazard to sound out possible buyers ... » read more | |
| Thursday May 11, 2017 | |
| The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issues a report every week that breaks down the open interest of the natural gas market by participant category. The intent of the report is to make sure no one group of traders has an undue influence on price in an effort to keep an orderly outcome. From the CFTC posting, we can gather plenty of information about total size of the ... » read more | |
| Wednesday May 10, 2017 | |
| Followers of the CAISO market or readers of this newsletter will be well aware of the issues surrounding California's large renewable generation portfolio which has occasionally driven negative price over DA HL hours. The negative prices typically clear through the middle of the day as solar generation ramps in. April saw multiple negative clears as shoulder ... » read more | |
| Tuesday May 9, 2017 | |
| Yesterday, EnergyGPS released over 50 pages of in-depth analysis on what is going on regarding Renewable Curtailments within the CAISO footprint. The first section breaks down how we have evolved to this point. It includes a little background on California's RPS and how the renewable growth has taken shape over the years. We also take a look at the Pacific ... » read more | |
| Monday May 8, 2017 | |
| The old adage of "April Showers, bring May Flowers" can we altered a little the past two month in the South Central region. It would go more like this, "March/April Wind, bring plenty of Generation to the grid". This has been the case in both SPP and ERCOT throughout the months of March and April. Before we get deep into the data, let us ... » read more | |
| Friday May 5, 2017 | |
| Last week I took a raft trip down the Owyhee River. The Owyhee is one of the most beautiful and remote rivers in Oregon. The headwaters of the Owyhee are located in Nevada. The river winds its way through southeastern Oregon before dumping into the Snake River along the Idaho-Oregon border. The ... » read more | |