2019 PJM State of Market
March 12th, 2020
PJM’s annual State of the Market Report has been released by Marketing Analytics:
What I’m looking for first is demand info, so I’m searching. Here ya go:
It looks like peak demand/load, at 148,228MW is above what it was in 2006. From FERC – Electric Power Markets PJM:
All time peak demand: 144,644 MW (set August 2, 2006), and down to 139,438 in 2007.
Peak demand growth (2006-2007): Peak demand declined 3.6%. See PJM State of the Market 2008, below.
| 2006 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summer Peak Demand (MW) | 144,644 | 139,438 |
| (Source: PJM) |
And about wholesale cost, from the 2019 State of the Market report:
One of the benefits of competitive power markets is that changes in input prices and changes in the balance of supply and demand are reflected immediately in energy prices. PJM real-time energy market prices decreased significantly in 2019 compared to 2018. The load weighted,average real-time LMP was 28.6 percent lower in 2019 than in 2018, $27.32 per MWh versus $38.24per MWh. Of the $10.92 per MWh decrease, 41.5 percent was a result of lower fuel costs. Other contributors to the decrease were the dispatch of lower cost units, decreased load and lower markups (2019 SoM,Intro, p 3).
Once more with feeling –wholesale energy costs and prices are DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, yet rates are going UP, UP, UP. DOH! It’s because, like Xcel, utilities are changing their business plan. They’re not making the money anymore on selling electricity, and can make a LOT more by building infrastructure that we don’t need and charging us ratepayers for it. Transmission costing billions; the rebuild and start up of Sherco 3 after 22 months off-line, and then announcing shut down of 1 & 2; the rebuild of Monticello costing twice the estimate; request to PUC to sell surplus Sherco and King plant generation on MISO market (just how is running it for sale elsewhere consistent with cutting CO2?!?!?)…
Another thing I do see is that the Capacity Market is deemed “Not Competitive,” and this has been a documented problem since 2007. DOH! Yet it continues.
If it’s not competitive, why hasn’t the market structure been changed? After all, it’s all about “let the free market decide,” and where it’s not competitive, that isn’t happening, eh? As Marketing Analytics states, “Structural market power is endemic to the capacity market.” From a wiki definition of endemic, “In epidemiology, an infection is said to be endemic in a population when that infection is constantly maintained at a baseline level…” Houston, methinks we have a market problem…
More to follow, but wanted to get these tidbits out there.
Cancellation of Force Majeure
March 11th, 2020
NextEra has rescinded/cancelled its Notice of Force Majeure:
This appears to mean that the NextEra Two Creeks project is now all systems go again. We shall see…
Here are the February letters from WPS, Notices of Force Majeure from NextEra, now cancelled, and Invenergy, which still remains in force (majeure!):
Solar Force Majeure in WI – Coronavirus
Winona County frac sand mining ban upheld
March 11th, 2020
And the good news is… the Minnesota Supreme Court has upheld Winona County’s frac sand mining ban:
Check out the court’s rejection of Minnesota Sands’ takings claim, starting on p. 26.
9th Anniversary of Fukushima Daiichi meltdown
March 11th, 2020
Nine years ago, when this happened, I posted as much as I could find about it, and it was hard to nail info down, but this photo above pretty much said it all, massive explosion.
Today, the release of SimplyInfo.org’s 9th Anniversary report:
View The 9th Anniversary Annual Report Here
SimplyInfo.org, a group of talented volunteers deep-researching this issue, has been tracking this for 9 years now. From their site’s “about us” page:
Back when it happened, I put these up on my Legalectricsite, and shortly after it happened, Day 3 I believe, I had over 4,000 hits in ONE DAY! People were hungry, desperate, for information. When I’d reported the explosion, the first one, someone commented that “no way was it melting down,” and that made no sense, even given what little objective information we had. And in fact, it was a lot worse than those folks thought. I knew it was a disaster, but as it kept getting worse, well, stunning… and the impacts are still affecting us, will be for thousands of years. Right now, they’re on the verge of dumping radioactive water into the ocean!
These Legalectric posts below were no real scoop, “just information lite,” a compilation of public info, news reports, but its information that we in Minnesota should take into account because our Monticello nuclear plant is the same design as Fukushima Diiachi:
The “peaceful atom” strikes Japan March 12th, 2011
Fukushima Reactor 3 blows… March 13th, 2011
Nuclear saga continues in Japan March 21st, 2011
Fukushima Daiichi update March 26th, 2011
Another Fukushima Daiichi update March 30th, 2011
More on Fukushima nuclear disaster April 8th, 2011
Fukushima can’t happen here? Uh-huh… right… June 6th, 2011
Fukushima admittedly a mess… August 9th, 2011
One year after Fukushima Daiichi meltdown March 10th, 2012
Fukushima Daiichi — 4 years ago today March 11th, 2015
Sick with COVFEFE-20!
March 11th, 2020
Repeated sternutation, over and over. Hacking and wheezing for two days. Alan had it first, now moi. How do I know it’s not corona/COVID-19? No fever. Yup, for the record: NO FEVER, no aches and pains, just a head stuff to the extreme and going to explode, utterly unable to sleep. Until yesterday, slept all day. No work done whatsoever!
SO, if you’re looking for me to produce something, put your feet up, it’ll be a while. Drafting and pontificating on the computer is not a good idea when this loopy! Thanks PUC, Xcel, and whoever else, for stalling!