Power Markets
By bcpaulos | For renewable energy to succeed, we must fix the way money flows in electricity markets.
One grid to rule them all
On a few sunny days this spring, California’s solar and wind power plants generated so much juice that grid operators had to throw it away, or …
Renewable EnergyCenter of the storm: PJM CEO Andy Ott on power market reforms for turbulent times
The PJM Interconnection, the nation's largest electricity market, is ground zero for many of the most dramatic changes rocking the power sector.<p>PJM …
The Jacobson debate: Distractions, detours and the Energy Transition
About six weeks ago, a think tank in London, Climate Policy Initiative, released a study on integrating high levels of renewable energy. It wasn’t …
Renewable EnergyEmbracing baseload power retirements
A wave of coal and potential nuclear retirements has prompted extensive political controversy over the future of “baseload” power plants and the …
Mind the “storage” gap: how much flexibility do we need in a high renewables future?
Imagine for a moment that we have built enough wind and solar power plants to supply 100 percent of the electricity a region like California or …
EnergyThe state of wholesale power markets: What's wrong with proposed changes in Eastern RTOs?
In part 2 of the series, Energy Innovation's Robbie Orvis and Eric Gimon critique proposals for capacity auction changes and carbon adders
EnergyPrognosis negative: How California is dealing with below-zero power market prices
Market forces and contract obligations are regularly dipping power prices below zero in California.<p>The dynamic is not new — negative pricing has …
Data Visualisation
<b>How will the overall energy system evolve from now to 2050?</b><p>This three-part interactive visualisation relies on the data and figures behind <i>Energy</i> …
Building the ‘Solar Protection Factor’ Into an Increasingly Green-Powered Grid
Utilities need to prepare for the rise of wind and solar power and the retirements of baseload power plants, and that includes building “solar …
EnergyA mightier wind is blowing through Texas
Wind power has long been considered "alternative energy." But in Texas, that label may soon no longer apply.<p>While most of Texas' power still comes …
ELECTRICITY: Thoughts on power markets? Executives have a few
Dynegy raised eyebrows last year when it supported draft legislation in Illinois that would've given a boost to some coal-fueled units (<i>Energywire</i>, …
Large distribution system operators make a pitch for EU-wide body
DSO Enedis sponsors Tour de France<p><i>EDSO for Smart Grids, an organisation representing most of the large European distribution system operators (DSOs),</i> …
Finkel Review: Summary of submissions from energy industry - Energy Source & Distribution
More than 360 submissions to the Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market have been received.<p>Australia’s Chief …
US Wind Adopts a ‘New Attitude’ to Confront a Looming Downturn
Wind works. That's the overarching message -- and the Twitter hashtag -- at the American Wind Energy Association's annual Windpower conference and …
Wind PowerMarch: Getting Wind and Sun onto the Grid
Getting Wind and Sun onto the Grid<p>Wind and solar PV technologies have seen rapid cost reductions and can now provide electricity at or below the cost …
The case for allowing negative electricity prices
photo: Rog B<p><i>Negative electricity prices have become an increasingly frequent occurrence on the power exchanges that allow them. However, there are</i> …
The great capacity market debate: Which model can best handle the energy transition?
Recent upheavals in wholesale electricity markets are giving new life to a years-old debate about market structure as the nation shifts to a cleaner …
ISO-NE proposes two-part capacity auctions to handle subsidized generation
Dive Brief:<p>ISO-New England will present a proposal to its board of directors this week to reform the forward capacity market (FCM) to handle greater …
On the economics of wind and solar power
“Many hope that wind and solar power will eventually become economically competitive on large scale, leading the way to a global low-carbon economy. …
Renewable EnergyThere Is No Free Market for Electricity: Can There Ever Be?
Electricity is an input in virtually everything we do as a modern society. Few Americans remember what it was like to live without it and its …
Flexibility: the path to low-carbon, low-cost electricity grids - CPI
Wind and solar have become established resources for low-carbon electricity around the world. Cost declines for those technologies now allow us a …
Are solar and wind really killing coal, nuclear and grid reliability?
U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in April requested a study to assess the effect of renewable energy policies on nuclear and coal-fired power …
Total makeover: wholesale markets need new thinking
PJM electricity wholesale market in the U.S.<p><i>The integration of renewables into the grid is becoming an increasingly acute problem, writes Fereidoon</i> …
The carbon consensus: Generators, analysts back CO2 price at FERC technical conference
Carbon pricing took center stage at the second and final day of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s technical conference on wholesale power …
'Markets' Test
I remember it well. The notion was as simple as it was compelling. What power plants were built, and what plants were run, had been determined by …
How solar growth will wreck the economics of power markets
real solar power (photo Bjoern Schwarz)<p><i>Continued solar growth could lead to significant decreases in wholesale electricity prices during most peak</i> …
Spring Oversupply Lifts CAISO Curtailments
‘Duck <b>Curve’ Dips Ahead of Expectations</b><p><i>By Robert Mullin</i><p>CAISO is curtailing an increasing volume of renewable generation this spring as the ISO sees …
Why Large Competitive Electricity Markets Benefit Wind Energy
On April 1, 2005, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) launched a wholesale energy market and began centrally dispatching power …
Planning for Solar and Wind
Spurred by ambitious national commitments, international agreements and rapid technological progress, governments are increasingly choosing renewable …