Yesterday, January 21, ERCOT issued its first Winter Weather Watch for the upcoming winter storm, which is expected to begin affecting the Lone Star State with sleet, ice, and frigid temperatures starting Saturday, January 24, 2026. While such weather events are becoming more frequent in the country, the confluence of record-high load forecasts and a […]
COVID-19 and Mild Weather Combine to Suppress Electricity Demand
COVID-19 and Mild Weather Combine to Suppress Electricity Demand Electricity demand in the continental U.S. since the beginning of the year has been sharply lower than during the same period in 2019, though the response to the ongoing COVID-19 virus pandemic is only partially to blame. Demand across the six largest centrally-dispatched markets – PJM, […]
Pain in the Permian: Renewable Edition
Pain in the Permian: Renewable Edition On March 8th, global oil prices fell by the largest amount since the 1991 Gulf War as Saudi Arabia abruptly ended its agreement with Russia to regulate prices through coordinated production cuts. The move sparked fears of a price war and came amid price declines caused by the COVID-19 […]
ERCOT Price Reforms to Curtail Retirements and Incentivize Distributed Generation Investment
Executive Summary In an effort to increase resilience ahead of summer 2019 the Texas Public Utility Commission has approved reforms that will increase prices during high-demand periods in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) region. The reforms are expected to incentivize generators to defer retirement, while also sending price signals to customers to curtail […]