CPV RETAIL BLOG

July 23, 2024

With great power comes great responsibility: Renewable Energy and Corporate Sustainability 

PJM Regulatory Review

  • Capacity auction results will be published next Tuesday afternoon with market expectations indicating a clear upward bias in sentiment.
  • Energy efficiency programs participation in the Base Residual Auction (BRA) continues to be debated as many claim PJM’s guidance is a departure from past practices.
  • The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s recent denial of a Transource transmission project is currently in litigation as PJM believes the PUC interfered with both PJM and FERC’s authority covering regional transmission planning and siting.
  • PJM has been asked by various consumer advocates and the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel to apply additional review and analysis when it evaluates load growth.

Energy Market Update

  • After twice rallying to $3.15/MMBTU the sellers came out in force and knocked the NYMEX down by almost $1.0/MMBTU to current levels below $2.50/MMBtu for the prompt August contract which settles next Monday.
  • Mountain Valley Pipeline’s flows have started to impact regional cash prices as Transco Zone 5 (N and S) cash prices remained fairly subdued during the recent heat wave and in particular Zone 5N on a few days traded only marginally higher than Transco Z6 NNY.
  • PJM’s load exceeded 150 GW during the recent heat wave with real-time prices on several occasions out-performing day-ahead settlements.
  • Hurricane Beryl decimated CenterPoint’s transmission and distribution network and left almost 3 million customers without power during what is obviously mid-summer heat in Texas. Various state entities are currently investigating how a Category 1 Storm managed this destruction.
  • Freeport LNG was one of the victims of Beryl’s wrath as it forced the facility off-line and then left it without power until just recently. It has finally resumed commercial operations this week.
  • Oil prices continue to bounce between bullish sentiment due to inventory de-stocking and bearish sentiment stemming from demand concerns coming out of China.
  • PJM’s recent loads above 150,000 MW coupled with a daily dose of data center demand headlines are helping keep future power demand growth at the forefront of conversations. 
  • PJM’s BRA results will be announced next Tuesday with an upward bias expected across the RTO and certain zones which are expected to break out in hopes of supporting new builds.

Forward Pricing