PJM Capacity Auction Results As Bad As Feared, Portending a Grim Future For Customers
1.) Oregon politicians passes two bipartisan bills to enable “microgrids” within the larger electric grid. One bill directs the Oregon PUC to develop a regulatory structure to enable both private and community-owned microgrids and allow municipalities to set up designated “microgrid zones.” The second bill would permit utilities or consultants to evaluate microgrid interconnection requests for connections to the larger power system.
2.) Some low and moderate-income native Hawaiians in Oahu will soon have the opportunity to access microgrids integrating carport-mounted solar and batteries. A two-carport configuration will combine 9 kW of solar, a 40-kWh battery and an electric vehicle (EV) charger in a package called Utility Lite for a fixed monthly fee of $300 for 25 years.
3.) China begins building $167 billion 70,000 MW hydropower complex in Tibet.
4.) A JV involving BMW, Honda, Ford, and Nissan called ChargeScape announces a partnership with PSEG Long Island to sign up 6,200 EV drivers in Peak Load Reduction managed charging program.
5.) EV manufacturer Nio says it has performed a total of 80 million battery swaps in China. It took 110 days to jump from 70 to 80 million.
6.) Google inks long-duration storage contract with Italian company Energy Dome, while also making a strategic investment in the company. The deal with Google is intended to promote development of multiple projects in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific, and the companies indicated they had a pipeline of site and projects in development and contracting stages.
7.) GE Vernova and Crusoe sign agreement for 29 of GE Vernova’s 35 MW aeroderivative gas turbine packages to power 1,000 MW of Crusoe AI data centers. The announcement did not specific a delivery date.
8.) Merchant company Talen will buy two natural gas combined cycle plants in PJM’s grid – one in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania from Caithness Energy – for $3.5 billion. The combined nameplate capacity is just over 1,900 MW.
9.) PJM Base Residual Capacity Auction sees prices pegged out at ceiling price of $329.17. Total estimated cost to load is $16.1, up from $14.7 billion the prior year, and from $2.2 billion in the 2024/25 delivery year. The next auction – for the 2027/28 delivery year – will take place in December.