Our Blog

Natural Gas Market Update

By Avalon Energy Services | Jan 7, 2015 | Comments Off on Natural Gas Market Update

Over the past 12 months, natural gas prices have fallen 52%. Looking ahead, the graphs below each look at natural gas prices in the futures market starting at two different points in time: June 24, 2014 and January 5, 2015. The first graph extends two years into the future and the second graph five years.…

Read More

Are Crude Oil and Natural Gas Reconciling?

By Avalon Energy Services | Dec 8, 2014 |

Crude oil prices have dropped 38% since June for two reasons. Shale oil production in the US Bakken, Eagle Ford, and Permian basins has increased dramatically – by more than 4 million barrels per day since 2008. At the same time, worldwide demand for crude oil has declined as a result of slowing economies in…

Read More

Natural Gas Market Update

By Avalon Energy Services | Oct 22, 2014 | Comments Off on Natural Gas Market Update

The above graph looks at natural gas prices going back to January 1997. Natural gas prices have retreated from the Polar Vortex bump and remain relatively low by historical standards. The prices plotted above are not adjusted for inflation. If they were in 2014 dollars, the left side of the curve would be more elevated.…

Read More

In The News – Avalon Energy Services

By Avalon Energy Services | Aug 25, 2014 | Comments Off on In The News – Avalon Energy Services

Avalon Energy Services recently completed an electricity procurement project for KBS Capital Advisors’ One Washingtonian Center property in Gaithersburg, MD. Marc Deluca, Regional President of KBS, noted that “Electricity markets have exhibited extreme volatility. The folks at Avalon Energy Services have deep expertise and an unsurpassed understanding of the energy markets and how they work.…

Read More

Capacity Factor – Part 2

By Avalon Energy Services | Jun 19, 2014 | Comments Off on Capacity Factor – Part 2

In our previous article we looked at Capacity Factor and how it differs between nuclear generation and solar PV (photovoltaic). We concluded that in order to generate the same amount of electricity as 1/3 of the capacity of the US nuclear generation fleet (33,042 MW), 154,760 MW of solar PV capacity would be required. This…

Read More

Capacity Factor

By Avalon Energy Services | Jun 16, 2014 | Comments Off on 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 More

40% Reduction and Volatility Avoided

By Avalon Energy Services | Apr 28, 2014 | Comments Off on 40% 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 More

What Does Volatility Look Like?

By Avalon Energy Services | Feb 2, 2014 | Comments Off on What 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 More

What Does an Extended Cold Spell Look Like?

By Avalon Energy Services | Jan 8, 2014 |

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 More