Summer 2022: MISO & PJM Coal Takes a Backseat to Natural Gas Production

Summer 2022 was notable for significant year-over-year changes in power prices across all ISOs. In PJM and MISO, significant increases in natural gas, coal, and NOx prices led to disproportionate growth in dispatch costs for coal generation and resulted in a shift in supply toward gas-fired production. 

In July-August 2022 (summer 2022), while onpeak prices across PJM and MISO hubs were typically greater than $100/MWh, Live Power data showed an 11 percentage point drop in average coal capacity factor relative to July-August 2021 (Summer 2021). Conversely, the average summer gas-fired combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) capacity factor increased seven percentage points year-over-year (YOY). Live Power monitors 230 GW of thermal dispatchable resources in PJM and MISO. 

In this white paper, we dive into PJM and MISO coal-to-gas switching in summer 2022, utilizing Live Power and Yes Energy data to analyze the changes in supply stack makeup, explore relevant dispatch cost drivers, and summarize price impacts.