Electricity

PJM must revise capacity market power mitigation rules seen driving up prices: FERC

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S&P Global Platts

Author Jasmin Melvin

New York — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission March 18 ordered PJM Interconnection to revise its capacity market rules to better protect consumers from the exercise of market power by power sellers, in a move that commissioners stressed would not disrupt plans for the region’s upcoming capacity auction.

The order (EL19-47, EL19-63) grants complaints brought by PJM’s independent market monitor, state consumer advocate agencies and consumer groups in 2019 alleging that PJM’s methodology for calculating the default market seller offer cap used in capacity auction bidding was …

Generation

Miscalculated levelized cost of electricity data has overvalued power plants: study

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S&P Global Platts

Author: Jared Anderson

New York — Mainstream energy analyses have significantly underestimated the levelized cost of electricity from conventional power plants by assuming the plants can sell the same volume of electricity each year from now through 2040 and beyond, experts at independent think tank RethinkX said. This miscalculation overestimates the value of conventional energy assets, the authors said.

“The more electricity a power plant produces and sells, the lower the average or levelized cost per kilowatt-hour,” Adam Dorr, an environmental social scientist and technology theorist with RethinkX, said in a March 15 email.

“The problem — which is creating a trillion dollar global financial bubble — is that virtually all mainstream analysts are …