Alberta’s weighted average Power Pool price for August is currently $143.49/MWh. Relative to July’s month-end price of $129.65/MWh, this represents an increase of $13.84/MWh or 10.7%. To kick off the month, pricing remained steady, averaging $83.10/MWh, but volatility occurred on the 3rd and 4th. On August 4th, we saw the daily market price settle to $246.98/MWh, reaching a high of $938.21/MWh at 6pm MST. While the daily demand levels for the 4th did not reach as high as we have seen this summer, the lack of wind and solar generation contributed to the elevated pricing. Conversely, as wind generation began increasing its contribution in later parts of the day, bidding behaviour stabilized, helping to decrease hourly volatility. Price spikes are expected to continue, as a heat warning was issued for South Eastern parts of the province.
The weighted average Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP) settled at 2.8¢/kWh for the month of July and is currently at 2.4¢/kWh for the first few days of August, a drop of 0.4¢/kWh or 11% compared to July’s settle. Driving this decline in price is a larger buffer in the supply-demand spread, versus the last two months, and a strong decrease in natural gas generation. Compared to average July levels, demand for August has declined 7% (14,534MW), while supply has decreased by only 5% (15,669MW). With a drop in demand, the supply of natural gas also decreased since gas is largely used to meet peak demand. With the first Global Adjustment estimated at 8.1¢/kWh and the first estimate recovery rate at 0.6¢/kWh, August’s total market price is 11.5¢/kWh.
In other electricity news, the federal government has recently announced a $12.7 million investment in six clean energy technologies projects to help Canadians to a net-zero future. With funding through Natural Resources Canada, announced projects include nearly $5 million to Hydro One to develop charging stations for heavy-duty electric trucks in Ontario, $2.5 million to the Toronto Transit Commission to build a smart charging platform for its electric buses, and over $1 million to Alectra to provide single-family and multi-unit residential buildings with access to electric vehicle chargers.
– Mark Ljuckanov, Energy Advisor / Ryan Cosgrove, Energy Data Analyst / Sarah Clemente, Energy Data Analyst
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