Posts by Avalon Energy Services
Capacity Factor
In a recent article in the Energy Law Journal, the authors state, By as early as 2016, installed distributed solar PV capacity in the United States could reach thirty gigawatts (GW). If that forecast is on track, distributed solar generation will have increased from less than one GW in 2010 to the equivalent of nearly…
Read More40% Reduction and Volatility Avoided
Our recent press release was picked up by numerous news outlets. Click here to see how it was reported by the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch. In summary, Avalon Energy Services, LLC and our project partner, Ameresco, successfully completed a second natural gas procurement process for the District of Columbia Department of General Services (DC…
Read MoreWhat Does Volatility Look Like?
This article looks at how cold weather led to great volatility in real-time wholesale electricity prices during January 2014 in the PJM Interconnection (PJM). The month of January 2014 was the coldest in decades in the US as a Polar Vortex pushed its way into the Midwest, South, and East. Winter electricity use in the…
Read MoreWhat Does an Extended Cold Spell Look Like?
This is a follow up to our blog posted Monday evening titled “What Does a Cold Day Look Like?” and looks at the impact on real-time wholesale electricity pricing of extended cold weather. We reported that as a result of Winter Storm Hercules barreling through the Mid-West, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast last Thursday and Friday (January…
Read MoreWhat Does a Cold Day Look Like?
In previous blog posts, we have examined how weather and other events affect electricity prices. What Does a Superstorm (Sandy) Look Like? What Does a Derecho Look Like? What Does a Warm Day Look Like? What Does an Earthquake Look Like? We continue this series by looking at how electricity prices in the PJM Interconnection…
Read MoreReal Electricity Prices (Energy Prices Always Go Up, Part 5)
This article is part of an occasional series that examines the common perception that energy prices always go up. We have examined both electricity prices (read hereand here) and natural gas prices (read hereand here). An article published recently by CNSNews.com states that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), “The price of electricity…
Read MoreMarket Update, November 6, 2013
For buyers, pricing in the wholesale natural gas market is attractive. The graph below shows natural gas prices over the past ten years. While we are not at the absolute low, we are near the bottom. The next graph shows the 24 month forward curve for natural gas. The line is upward sloping, meaning the…
Read MoreDay-Ahead and Real-Time Pricing in NYISO
We recently looked at the Day-Ahead and Real-Time electricity markets in PJM. The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) also operates a two settlement process with Day-Ahead (DA) and Real-Time (RT) markets, which are the subjects of this article. First some background. The NYISO, like only two other ISOs (CalISO and ERCOT), serves only one…
Read MoreReal Energy Cost Savings
Below are the results from a sampling of reverse auctions conducted for Avalon Energy Services’ customers, including customers of varying size, over the past few months. The first graph shows the customer’s annual energy costs before competitive bidding (blue line) and after contracts were executed on accepted bids (red line). Pre-auction annual energy costs ranged…
Read MoreDay-Ahead and Real-Time Pricing During a Heat Wave
PJM operates two markets for energy, the Day-Ahead (DA) Market and the Real-Time (RT) Market. PJM’s Day-Ahead Market is a forward market in which hourly LMPs (locational marginal prices) are calculated for the next operating day based on generation offers, demand bids, and scheduled bilateral transactions. PJM’s Real-Time Market is a spot market in which…
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