Alberta’s weighted average Power Pool price for January is currently settling to $100.16/MWh. Compared to last week’s price of $108.57/MWh, we experienced a minor drop of $8.41/MWh or 7.7%. The average price over the past week has been $78.98/MWh, with volatility being kept in check due to milder temperatures, a slight drop in demand and consistent wind generation. January 24th, however, was unsettled, with pricing settling to $130.56/MWh. Prices averaged $253.60/MWh between 5pm and midnight MST, and reached a high of $613.84/MWh at 6pm MST. Intermittent generator outages continued at HR Milner, Keephills 2 and Sheerness 1, all of which have since come back online. Conversely, Battle River 4 & 5, as well as Sundance 6, went offline in the past week and have yet to return to functionality.
The weighted average Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP) is settling at 4.4¢/kWh so far this month, representing a 0.4¢/kWh or 9.1% increase over last week’s settle. This price hike can be attributed to a 12.6% or 3,070MW increase in expensive natural gas-burning generation. Nuclear baseload generation picked back up this past week, increasing its output to an average of 10,097MW, a 89.35MW or 0.9% week-over-week increase. Hydro-based generation, on the other hand, decreased output, falling 0.2% to an average of 4,052MW. Solar and biofuel both increased output, climbing 9.1% (28MW) and 22.2% (34MW), respectively, whereas wind generation dropped by 6.7% or 2,062MW. With the first Global Adjustment estimated at 4.8¢/kWh, January’s total market price is settling at 9.2¢/kWh as of today.
– Mark Ljuckanov, Energy Advisor / Clara Birch, Energy Data Analyst
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