ERCOT

Pay-As-Bid Revisited

Many see a higher cap as a windfall for nuclear and coal.

FERC’s new rulemaking proposal would allow generators to tender supply bids higher than $1,000 per megawatt-hour, if it really costs that much to buy fuel to generate power. Some opponents say that may be OK for gas-fired turbines, but it’s not needed for nuclear or coal-fired plants.

Topping the $1k Cap

Still Beyond the Pale?

Two decades into our grand experiment with wholesale power markets and we’re still debating the need for a cap on prices.

Chasing the Uncatchable

Why trying to fix mandatory capacity markets is like trying to win a game of Whack-A-Mole (Parts I & II)

FERC has little to show for more than a decade of tinkering with mandatory capacity markets.

FERC Chasing the Uncatchable

Trying to fix mandatory capacity markets like trying to win at Whack-A-Mole, Part II

The proposals do not mandate participation in mandatory auction markets, much less try to set artificial floors on seller bids.

Bid-Offer Spreads: A Hedging Device

How exactly does a retail energy marketer use the spread as a hedging device?

Bid-Offer spread represents the profit a market-maker or intermediary demands for creating liquidity. This spread is composed of the intermediary’s variable cost per deal plus any liquidity risk they may bear.

Breakdown of Tariff Risk

Explaining timing risks and magnitude risks.

Tariff risk is that risk which the marketer incurs downstream of the uplift. This risk can be broken into Timing Risk (I - III) and Magnitude Risk (IV-VI) as illustrated below.

The Price is Right?

Demand response on appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court.

It could well be that demand response results in a more stable pricing environment that seems less risky to investors.

EPA's Clean Power Plan

Charting a Path Forward

With respect to the Clean Power Plan, the question is whether EPA will address the major issues and reinforce its positions in advance of the anticipated legal challenges.

AEP Taps Siemens to Modernize HVDC System Welsh in Texas

American Electric Power (AEP) chose Siemens to modernize its HVDC back-to-back link at its 600-MW Welsh HVDC station in Titus County, Texas. Siemens will upgrade its 20-year-old system by installing new control and protection technologies, replacing the cooling, heating and ventilation, and incorporating new harmonic filters and shunt reactors. This will be the first Siemens mid-life control and protection HVDC modernization in the United States.

SunEdison to Build 150 MW of Solar Power in Georgetown, Texas

SunEdison will construct new solar plants in West Texas to supply the City of Georgetown with 150 MW of solar power for 25 years. The SunEdison solar plants will be interconnected in 2016, and will provide over 9,500 GW-hours of energy through 2041. Upon completion, SunEdison expects to offer this project for investment to TerraForm Power.