The first PJM capacity auction in three years saw some of the lowest clearing prices in its history. The auction resulted in an RTO clearing price of $50/MW-day, which is down from $140/MW-day in the previous auction, and lower than analyst’s expectations, due, in part, to a lower load forecast and reserve requirement. Another factor…
As expected, ISO New England’s (“ISO-NE”) recent Forward Capacity Auction (“FCA”) 15 resulted in higher capacity clearing prices than FCA 14. The auction, consisting of five rounds of bidding, concluded on February 8th with preliminary clearing prices ranging from $2.48/kW-month to $3.98/kW-month, depending on zone. These prices represent a significant increase from FCA 14, when…
According to S&P Global Market intelligence (S&P) data, 12,946 MW of power generating capacity in the US was retired in 2020, down from the 19,716 MW retired in 2019. Broken down by fuel type, shuttered coal plants made up the bulk of the retirements at 56.9%, followed by gas at 19.2%, and nuclear at 12.7%.…
Mild winter weather and the global COVID-19 pandemic drove natural gas prices in 2020 to the lowest annual average prices in several decades, averaging $2.05 per MMBtu at the national benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana, according to EIA data. Natural gas demand for heating was low due to the mild weather, and economic shutdowns triggered…
