North American Power Markets Insight Hub: discover what’s driving opportunities for energy investors

ERCOT – green shoots in a market under stress

Nina Fahy explores the persistent challenges facing the ERCOT market, as well as identifying key areas of future growth, with particular attention to how: 

• ERCOT is still dealing with the repercussions of Storm Uri, including new management, multi-billion-dollar settlements and operational and policy changes
• Positive economics (resource, land and ease of consenting) rather than state support continue to drive high penetration of onshore wind and solar
• The market is well-positioned for a leading role in blue and green hydrogen clusters, attracting significant interest from oil & gas investors and industrial users

PJM – powerful tailwinds propel clean technologies, with grid access the key to success

John Baron explains the factors that make PJM the largest and most liquidly-traded market in the US, identifying:

• The changing mix of clean tech and traditional power
• The policy initiatives that will add more than 70GW of clean energy capacity – with investment set to reach $380 billion by 2050
• Why building sufficient transmission to accommodate new generation remains the biggest obstacle

NYISO – leading the way on climate-change initiatives

In this video, Kurt Coutain examines how New York’s clean energy and climate agendas are forcing the pace of change, identifying:

• How the commitments and targets required by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) and the IRA are accelerating offshore wind and solar
• The strong case for utility-scale battery storage to ensure sufficient flexibility

ISO - NE – reliance on gas, but a major drive for renewables

Tom Harper explains how New England is setting some of the nation’s boldest decarbonization targets, including the implications of:

• The IRA and state policy initiatives that are creating an aggressive push for renewables
• Increased incentives for new storage and transmission
• Increasing supply chain costs on the feasibility of new projects, including offshore wind

SPP – as coal retires, wind and solar rush in

In this video, Jeremy Barrand describes the opportunities and challenges of explosive growth in renewables in the SPP, highlighting:

• How the variability of wind assets creates uncertainty and price volatility
• Anticipated increases in storage capacity investment incentivized by the IRA
• The growing role of solar generation in the energy mix

MISO – navigating a dual-market, two-speed approach to decarbonization

Jeremy Barrand explains why the largest geographical market in the US can seem to operate as two, with MISO South’s thermal resources contrasting with expanding renewables elsewhere. He explores:

• The imbalance between coal retirement and renewable replacement and the implications for future auction processes
• Barriers to decarbonization including rising interconnections costs and capacity shortages

AESO – balancing plentiful assets in the ground with climate policy demands

Jack Morrow looks at how a market with considerable oil and gas production will take a gradual approach to decarbonization, exploring the impacts of:

• The most aggressive carbon tax in the western hemisphere, set to hit $180 per metric ton by 2030
• The persistently high proportion of fossil fuels in electricity generation
• Opportunities for renewables and storage in the market