Alberta’s weighted average Power Pool Price for April is currently $115.21/MWh, representing a 0.8% decrease from last week’s month-to-date price. Unrelated to flat demand, and aided by minimal and inconsistent wind generation, April continues to see pricing consistently over $100/MWh. On the 14th, the lowest hourly price was $100.69/MWh at 12pm MST, while prices reached a high of $332.11/MWh on the 15th; the resulting two-day average price was $162.29/MWh. Intermittent outages at several generators including Battle River 4 and Sundance 6, as well as the Path 2 intertie (which has since returned to service), have further contributed to elevated pricing.
The weighted average Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP) is settling at 3.5¢/kWh so far for the month of April, representing a 0.3¢/kWh or 8.6% decrease over last week’s settle. The primary driver of this price decline is the decrease in demand across the province, causing the grid’s need for demand response to diminish. Natural gas-burning supply decreased by 19.9% (646MW) over the course of this past week, while baseload generation, such as nuclear and hydro, both increased (+1.3%; 8,849MW, +2.4%; 4,363MW, respectively). Wind, solar, and biofuel also increased output this past week (+4.7%; 1,573MW, +2.7%; 91MW, +6.1%; 18MW, respectively). With the first Global Adjustment estimated at 5.9¢/kWh, April’s total market price is settling at 9.4¢/kWh as of today.
– Mark Ljuckanov, Energy Advisor / Ryan Cosgrove, Energy Data Analyst
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