S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
Solutions
Capabilities
Delivery Platforms
News & Research
Our Methodology
Methodology & Participation
Reference Tools
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Featured Events
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
S&P Global Offerings
S&P Global
Research & Insights
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
About Commodity Insights
Solutions
Capabilities
Delivery Platforms
News & Research
Our Methodology
Methodology & Participation
Reference Tools
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Featured Events
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
S&P Global Offerings
S&P Global
Research & Insights
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
About Commodity Insights
04 Mar 2020 | 21:49 UTC — Houston
By Kassia Micek
Highlights
Wind generation reaches 53% in February
Coal generation drops as low as 20%
North Hub on-peak LMP down 31% year on year
Houston — Weakening spot natural gas prices pulled down Southwest Power Pool wholesale power prices nearly 31% year on year in February, as wind generation continued to displace coal-fired power for a second straight month.
SPP peakload dropped 3.6% year on year to average 33,165 MW in February as wind-powered generation has averaged more than 32% of the total fuel mix so far this year, compared to coal at 28.7%, according to SPP data. In contrast, five years ago coal accounted for 58% of the fuel mix in Q1 2015 compared to wind at 12.6%
This is not the first time wind has surpassed coal in a month, but it is the first time wind has remained above the coal share for multiple months. Wind was the lead fuel source for the first time in April and then again in October.
Coal-fired generation plunged nearly 15 percentage points year on year in February to account for about 25% of the total fuel mix, according to SPP data. Coal output fell nearly 38% year on year to average 203,112 MWh/day.
Picking up the slack, gas-fired generation increased more than 5 percentage points year on year to make up nearly 27.5% of the total fuel mix for the month, with output up 16.5% year on year to average 198,543 MWh/d.
Likewise, wind remained the lead fuel source for a second month at more than 33% of the fuel mix, up more than 8 percentage points year on year, as output jumped 25.4% year on year to average 237,185 MWh/d. Wind generation reached as high as 53% of the total mix during the month, as coal fell as low as 20%.
Hydro generation accounted for about 6.5% of the fuel mix with output up 20.3% year on year to average 34,808 MWh/d.
Total generation averaged 720,087 MWh/d during the month, down 5.7% year on year, according to SPP data.
Helping to pull down power prices, spot gas at Panhandle, TX-OK averaged $1.545/MMBtu, a decrease of nearly 38% year on year and down 3.5% month on month.
South Hub day-ahead on-peak locational marginal prices shed 24% to average $19.62/MWh for February, as real-time on-peak was a premium at an average of $20.19/MWh, down 15.5% year on year but up 12% month on month. Day-ahead off-peak sank 35.2% year on year to average $12.98/MWh.
SPP North Hub day-ahead on-peak LMPs averaged $18.69/MWh in February, a drop of 31% year on year, according to SPP data. Off-peak plunged 34.5% year on year to average $12.98/MWh.
Power forwards moved little in the prompt month but are trending higher down the curve.
SPP North Hub March on-peak averaged $23.50/MWh and rolled off the curve at $22.70/MWh, $2.50 lower than where the 2019 package ended a year ago, according to Platts data.
Similarly, South Hub March on-peak averaged $23.47/MWh and rolled off the curve at $22.65/MWh, down $2.75 from where the 2019 package ended the month.
North Hub April on-peak averaged $22.75/MWh, up 3.4% month on month, while on-peak May averaged $24.15/MWh, up 6% month on month but down 3.2%.from where the 2019 package averaged last year.
Likewise, South Hub on-peak April averaged $22.87/MWh, an increase of nearly 2% month on month but down nearly 4% from the 2019 counterpart a year ago, as May on-peak averaged $24.50/MWh, an increase of 4% month on month, but down 7.5% month on month from the year-ago 2019 package average.
Panhandle, TX-OK March averaged $1.462/MMBtu, a drop of 31.2% from where the 2019 contract averaged a year ago, according to Platts data. The April contract averaged $1.418/MMBtu, down 33.2% from the 2019 counterpart last year, as May averaged $1.345/MMBtu, down nearly 35% from the year-ago 2019 contract average.