Alberta’s weighted average Power Pool price for January settled to $93.53/MWh, alongside average monthly demand of 10,511MW. Pricing at the end of the month was very low, averaging just $57.67/MWh. There was only one peak period during this time frame, which occurred on January 27th between 6am and 9am, when prices averaged $177.13/MWh; the daily average, however, settled to $75.44/MWh. Consistent wind generation in the province, including days averaging 82.5% of maximum capacity, helped suppress prices. In addition, intermittent outages at Sheerness 1, Sundance 4 and 6, and Battle River 4 were kept to a minimum, and all generators have returned to service.
The weighted average Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP) is settling at 3.6¢/kWh so far for the month of February, representing a 0.9¢/kWh or 25.2% decrease over last month’s settle. The primary driver of this price decline is decreased demand across the province, diminishing the grid’s need for demand response. Natural gas-burning generation decreased by 69.7% (948MW) week-over-week. Baseload generation, such as nuclear, picked back up this past week, increasing its output 6.2% to an average of 10,848MW. Hydro-based generation, on the other hand, decreased output, falling 4.4% to an average of 3,879MW. Wind, solar, and biofuel all increased output (+34.6%; 2632MW, +45.0%; 45MW, +18.7%; 46MW, respectively). With the first Global Adjustment estimated at 5.0¢/kWh, February’s total market price is currently settling at 8.6¢/kWh as of today.
– Mark Ljuckanov, Energy Advisor / Clara Birch, Energy Data Analyst
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