MenuFeatured Articles
| Wednesday Mar 25, 2026 | |
| A few days before the official start of spring, the Midwest was hit with a late winter storm, which heaped snow, interrupted travel plans, and prompted blizzard warnings. Storm Iona hit after a relatively mild February and start to March. The cold was brief, but it hit hard. The Midwest dropped to average temperatures under 20 degrees on March 17th while overnight lows dipped below 0 degrees in many cities. Figure 1 | Midwest Daily Avg Temperatures and Differences from Normal The figure below shows key market components for MISO from March 5th through 18th. Similar figures are featured in our MISO Supply Demand dashboard, which is published daily. The late winter storm pushed up demand. In the previous week, the mild temperatures had MISO demand averaging between 70 and 75 GW on the ... » read more | |
| Tuesday Mar 24, 2026 | |
| Western Canada gas markets are increasingly being shaped by export demand as weather-driven consumption remains modest, as flows toward the LNG Canada corridor continue to rise and hold near record levels. Pipeline data now shows volumes reaching 1.0 Bcf/d moving toward Kitimat, marking a clear shift from what initially looked like a gradual ramp late last year to what is now a steady and sustained pull on the system. Even as seasonal heating demand begins to fade across Alberta, the basin continues to lose a meaningful amount of gas molecules to the coast each day, keeping overall export balances tighter than they would normally be at this point in the year. What stands out most is not just the size of the flow, but the consistency, with export demand holding firm since February and ... » read more | |
| Monday Mar 23, 2026 | |
| A heat dome at the end of June is always on the table but to have one sitting over California, Desert Southwest and parts of the Plains/West Texas in March is almost unheard of. That is until 2026, when Mother Nature continues to wreak havoc on what is considered a normal weather pattern. We saw this all winter with a high ridge being blocked by the Continental Divide line, leaving the West quite warm while a low ridge was brought below normal temperatures to the Upper Midwest, Plains and East regions. The end of January 2026 pushed colder temperatures into Texas and the Gulf Coast, which is when spot natural gas prices pushed to record levels at Henry Hub, given the LNG demand (see NG Market Flash – ‘Price Curve Discovery’) was the marginal molecule needing to be clawed ... » read more | |
| Friday Mar 20, 2026 | |
| Before the shift to renewables and efforts toward carbon-free energy, changes to hourly load shape profiles were minimal, with economic load growth assumptions differing only by fractions of a percent. But now, things are different: behind-the-meter solar is a major topic when talking about load profiles, and datacenters, electrification, and behind-the-meter battery capacity are all key players in these discussions. California has been the leader when it comes to the renewable push (Renewable Portfolio Standard Policy – RPS) and the carbon free aspect (Carbon Policy adoption in 2013 – CACARB). Both policies lead to dramatic changes to hourly load profiles. As other states march towards ambitious clean energy goals across sectors including electrification of the ... » read more | |
| Thursday Mar 19, 2026 | |
| Earlier this week the Trump administration once again issued an emergency order directing the Centralia unit 2 coal plant in Washington to remain in operation. This order extends the order previously issued on December 16th and is effective for 90 days, from March 17th through June 14th. The order is part of a wider strategy from the federal government to prevent the planned retirement of several coal and gas plants across the country. Figure 1 | Centralia Coal Plant Picture via The Seattle Times The text of the order points to the need for grid reliability, but in the case of Centralia the claim falls a little flat. As has been pointed out by opponents of the decision, the emergency order disrupts the previously announced plans for TransAlta to convert the Centralia plant from coal to ... » read more | |
| Wednesday Mar 18, 2026 | |
| With Energy GPS’s new Coal to Gas dashboards, subscribers get a snapshot of a region’s thermal output. The figure displayed below is taken from the MISO Coal to Gas dashboard. There are dashboards for PJM and SPP as well. From the figures, you can easily identify how the average thermal output in MISO has changed over the last 20 days, as well as how much has come from natural gas versus coal. Elsewhere in the dashboard, you can compare the current month’s data to previous years in our year-on-year dashboards. But what if you wanted to dig even deeper into the data? For instance, you might want to know how much of the stack was natural gas on days with similar average thermal generation last year or the year before. Or if you’re interested in how many days in March ... » read more | |
| Tuesday Mar 17, 2026 | |
| SPP fundamentals are entering the shoulder season on a firmer footing than in recent years, with early-March demand consistently running above both 2025 and 2024 levels. Peak load has frequently pushed into the 31–33 GW range while overnight demand continues to hold near 28–30 GW, signaling a stronger baseline profile across the footprint. With wind output running somewhat softer through parts of the midday hours, net load has also trended higher, forcing slightly stronger gas dispatch while coal generation remains broadly steady year over year. This combination has kept the system tighter than what is typically seen during the early-spring transition. Figure 1 | SPP 12x24 Profile The strength in demand appears to be primarily stronger across the northern portion of SPP. » read more | |
| Monday Mar 16, 2026 | |
| This is the time of year where families have planned spring break vacations for children of all ages. For some, it is a family vacation to a warm destination or a trip to another country. For college students, the festivities are tied to beaches and a nightlife that limits sleep for many. For some high school seniors, this is a time to travel with a group of friends for one last memorable experience before everyone pushes forward on their journey to adulthood. Figure 1 | Spring Burr Unbeknownst to many, Mother Nature was bringing her own spring break madness to the table as weather conditions wreaked havoc on travel plans across Lower 48 and Hawaii over the weekend. Starting with the island life, the Hawaiian Islands are a great destination to get away with hiking ... » read more | |
| Friday Mar 13, 2026 | |
| As we head into our final days of winter 2025/26, a noticeable dichotomy has arisen in our coverage of US markets in recent months: while the West broadly enjoyed a temperate winter with abundant renewable production, the East slogged through a tough one, at times combusting anything that could be burned to make a MWh. The middle of the country at times got the best in the west, but the worst in the east. The weather forecast from today in Figure 1 tells a story that represents much of the winter. Figure 1| March 12, 2026 Current Weather and Forecast for LA and NYC In this blog, we highlight some of the contrasting stories from this past season. Our West Coast coverage, including the PNW and CAISO was largely headlined by mild temperatures along the West Coast. The early season was ... » read more | |
| Thursday Mar 12, 2026 | |
| CAISO delivered a bit of a surprise last month when it came to renewables. Looking over the first two months of 2026 within the ISO, an observer was immediately confronted with the question: “Where have all the curtailments gone?”. By the end of February total year-to-date solar curtailments totaled just 252 GWh, less than half of the 593 GWh curtailed as of February 28, 2025. Wind curtailments also fell short, at just under 17 GWh compared to 111 GWh in late February 2025. We’ve written about the topic recently in our February Renewable Monthly Report as well as a recent CAISO Power Market Flash, “Where have CAISO Curtailments Gone?” Figure 1 | CAISO Hourly System Solar vs. Net Load, Curtailment, and SP15 LMP- February We can see the pattern show up in the ... » read more | |