Market Impacts of the Energy Transition

The past few years have seen unprecedented changes to the makeup of the U.S. electric power system. The generation mix is changing drastically, driven by falling installation costs for renewables and storage, regulations making fossil fired plants more expensive to operate, and the general drive to decarbonize our electric grid. This has led to renewables and storage expanding rapidly and replacing older fossil fired plants. This trend is expected to only accelerate in the coming years.

Power Market Trends 

Over the past five years, intermittent resources like wind and solar have substantially increased their share of electric power generation. This fundamental shift in how our power is generated, away from large dispatchable plants to smaller intermittent and less predictable power sources located far away from load centers, has had significant impacts on wholesale power market dynamics. This increase in intermittent resources has been positive from an environmental perspective, but has had some impacts on market dynamics including increased price volatility, curtailment and congestion.

Our ebook, Market Impacts of the Energy Transition, by Cliff Rose, analyzes these impacts. We cover: 

• The shifting magnitude and pervasiveness of congestion due to unpredictable amounts of electricity from renewables, leading to negative congestion pricing. 

• How energy prices are soaring due to base and mid-merit generators being forced out of the market, increasing price volatility across most U.S. markets.   

• The growing market conditions of widespread curtailment using data from record-setting wind generation in the Southwest Power Pool. 

Download the Ebook 

We use Yes Energy’s data analytics tool suite to explore the markets and visualize how different components of the grid impact pricing, analyzing increased price volatility, curtailment, and congestion.

Whether you’re a utility seeking to serve your load and maintain reliability, an independent power producer seeking to optimally dispatch and hedge assets, or a developer wanting to understand wholesale power market dynamics and merchant risk around a proposed asset, all market participants can benefit from understanding current trends and how they impact their business.

Download the ebook. 

At Yes Energy^®, our teams are comprised of experts entirely focused on power market data. That’s all we do. We understand the complexity and unique challenges of nodal power markets, and it’s why we’re committed to offering superior data to meet your needs.