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Draft Scoping Plan Public Hearings are ongoing. The Climate Action Council voted on December 20, 2021, to release the draft scoping plan for public feedback. The public comment period began on January 1, 2022, and will end on June 10, 2022.
Public comments can be submitted online here.
TRADE DATE |
HUB |
PRODUCT |
STRIP |
SETTLEMENT PRICE |
PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE FROM DEC 22 |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (50 MW) |
Dec-22 |
126.60000 |
100% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (50 MW) |
Dec-23 |
74.60000 |
59% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (50 MW) |
Dec-24 |
67.25000 |
53% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (50 MW) |
Dec-25 |
67.15000 |
53% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (50 MW) |
Dec-26 |
65.75000 |
53% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (50 MW) |
Dec-27 |
64.45000 |
51% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (50 MW) |
Dec-28 |
56.45000 |
45% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (50 MW) |
Dec-29 |
51.00000 |
40% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-22 |
141.55000 |
100% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-23 |
97.50000 |
69% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-24 |
74.45000 |
53% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-25 |
84.25000 |
60% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-26 |
78.10000 |
55% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-27 |
79.35000 |
56% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-28 |
74.30000 |
52% |
4/29/22 |
NYISO J |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-29 |
71.05000 |
50% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-22 |
113.60000 |
100% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-23 |
57.25000 |
50% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-24 |
45.10000 |
40% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-25 |
46.80000 |
41% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-26 |
49.00000 |
43% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-27 |
49.40000 |
43% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-28 |
49.50000 |
44% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA |
Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-29 |
50.25000 |
44% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-22 |
103.60000 |
100% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-23 |
45.25000 |
44% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-24 |
39.35000 |
38% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-25 |
37.20000 |
36% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-26 |
39.25000 |
38% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-27 |
39.35000 |
38% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-28 |
39.80000 |
38% |
4/29/22 |
PJM PSEG Zone DA Off-Peak |
Off-Peak Futures (1 MW) |
Dec-29 |
40.50000 |
39% |
NYISO J Off-Peak: The curve from Dec ’22 to Dec ’26 continues to be backwardated/flat. The perceived market confidence for a 2024 start date has declined significantly in the last 9 months. AEGIS has not seen a formal change of course from New York other than a continued slow pace during the process. The market is currently not pricing in carbon fee as it did back in 2019/2020.
PJM PSEG: Power Prices for Dec-24 to Dec-29 is lower than Dec-21 and Dec 22. The market is not pricing in any additional carbon (besides RGGI) as the CPSTF was sunsetted.
New York approves solar and storage project. On April 6, the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment approved the Excelsior Energy Center, a 280MW solar project featuring a four-hour energy storage system. The project is being developed by NextEra Energy, a utility company in Florida. Excelsior will live in western New York's Genesee County. It is the largest solar farm ever approved in New York. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which controls the state's renewable energy certificate (REC) procurements, has already agreed to acquire RECs linked with the project from Excelsior. According to the state, the project will generate enough electricity to power 74,000 homes. Although NextEra said it is "reviewing and analyzing the present pace," the initiative is aiming for commercial operations by the end of the year.
New York removes the clean fuels mandate from the budget. State Senate provision establishing a Clean Fuel Standard was dropped from an approximately $220 billion budget after negotiations that extended past a 1 April deadline and progressed toward final votes on April 8. The focus now shifts back to identical measures in the Senate and Assembly committees, as well as a separate state climate scoping process that has sparked fierce discussion among advocates and adversaries. The Clean Fuel Standard was established by a single language in a huge Senate budget resolution passed in March. State LCFS legislation that had been dormant for more than a year resurfaced with revisions aiming to link the bills with a state climate advisory process. However, the budget reference vanished during a week of discussions that resulted in a gasoline tax exemption, biofuel heating oil credits, and cash for electric vehicle charging. This session, state lawmakers have repeatedly declined to discuss the program. The legislative session is expected to last until early June.
Contracts for clean transmission approved in New York. Two transmission projects have been approved by New York authorities to transport power and Tier 4 renewable energy credits (RECs) from upstate plants to New York City. Contracts for the Clean Path New York and Champlain Hudson Power Express projects were approved by the New York Public Service Commission. The contracts will price the accompanying Tier 4 RECs using an index system that the state claims will safeguard customers from price surges in power. The two transmission projects are expected to produce roughly 18 million MWh/yr of carbon-free electricity to the downstate area, enough to power the equivalent of 2.5 million homes. The city of New York has agreed to buy a portion of the Tier 4 RECs generated by the projects, and the state Office of General Services has agreed to contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for Tier 4 credits to cover electricity used by state agencies and city offices. NYSERDA payments to the projects will begin once they have gotten all necessary permits, completed construction, and starting delivering power to the city. The Champlain Hudson Power Express is set to open in 2025, with the Clean Path New York line following in 2027.
New Jersey has initiated community solar discussions. Regulators in New Jersey are seeking stakeholder input to help them develop the state's permanent community solar program. On April 11, the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) distributed a list of questions to stakeholders in the hopes of shaping its next community solar program. This final program will expand on the work of the board, which included a pilot initiative in which the state conditionally approved approximately 243MW of photovoltaic capacity from 2019 to 21. The board's questions to fine-tune the next initiative encompass a wide variety of topics, such as how projects should be chosen, if BPU should create a waitlist for projects that are not chosen, and how far along in the development cycle a project should be before applying. Regulators are also looking for feedback on how to set the value of bill credits for community solar participants, the number of subscribers per project, and how to assure participation from low- and moderate-income groups. The responses to their inquiries will be used to inform BPU's straw proposal, which it plans to publish in May or June. The board will receive answers to its inquiries through May 6th.
Solar growth in New Jersey remains modest. The rate of solar growth in New Jersey improved somewhat in March, but monthly capacity additions in 2022 have remained quite low. According to the latest statement from New Jersey's Clean Energy Program, it added 14.8MW of new solar in March. The sum is the highest for the first quarter of 2022, topping the 10.3MW reported in January and the 9.3MW reported in February. The results for March also outperform the industry's performance during the same times in 2019-21, when the state saw growth of 6.6MW, 11.7MW, and 8.5MW, respectively. At the same time, additions this year have been significantly lower than in the preceding three years, with around 38MW/month in 2019 and 27MW/month in 2020-21. Approximately 8.7MW of March capacity was fed into the state's transition solar program, which awards transition renewable energy certificates (TRECs) with a base value of $152/MWh for the first 15 years of a project's lifecycle. TRECs must be purchased by New Jersey's four electrical distributors. The remaining 6.1MW went into New Jersey's administratively determined incentive (ADI) program, which is the fixed-price component of the state's new solar incentive program, which launched in August. It is the ADI segment's best monthly performance to date. Behind-the-meter installations continue to make up the majority of the state's solar fleet, accounting for over 80% of the total. Grid-scale systems account for slightly less than 20%, whereas community solar projects account for less than 1%.
Virginia's regulator has put a halt to RGGI-related rate hikes. A Virginia regulator granted Dominion Energy's request to rescind a scheduled rate hike intended to recover costs associated with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The Virginia State Corporation Commission granted the utility's request in an April 1 decision, which means that ratepayers will not have to pay any more in RGGI-related fees than they already do each month. Virginia state law permits utilities to increase electricity rates to meet environmental laws if the commission approves. Since January 1, Virginia consumers have begun paying increased rates, with the average residential customer currently paying $2.39/month in RGGI-related expenditures. Dominion asked the commission in December to approve a plan to hike prices even further to account for the rising cost of emissions permits. The average Virginia residential customer will pay an additional $1.98/month beginning in September and more than $52/year in total RGGI-related expenditures under the proposal. However, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin's promise to withdraw from the US Northeast cap-and-trade scheme for power plant CO2 emissions threw Dominion's plans into disarray. Dominion withdrew its proposal to hike rates on January 10, citing "uncertainty around the timing for the commonwealth's participation in RGGI," and stated it would re-evaluate the charges once the state's future in the program was clearer. The commission asked Dominion to provide an update around July 1st, which should include specifics on the estimated costs of compliance with RGGI as well as any move to extend the previously approved RGGI rate hike for another year. In accordance with a request from the attorney general's office, the regulator also stated that Dominion cannot pass on any costs incurred as a result of its decision to abandon its earlier rate hike proposal. Dominion says it is "concerned" that the state's participation in RGGI "would result in a financial burden on its customers with no significant regional mitigation of GHG emissions." The business did not specify whether it plans to pursue future rate changes if the state stays in the program.
Coal organizations have filed a lawsuit to stop the Pennsylvania RGGI rule. A coalition of coal companies, power plant owners, and labor organizations has petitioned a Pennsylvania court to prevent the implementation of a regulation requiring the state to join in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). On April 25, the group asked the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania for an injunction to prevent the regulation from going into effect. The filing includes the state's largest coal trade organization, coal-fired power plant owners, labor organizations with coal industry members, and the owner of various oil- and gas-fired power facilities. The new filing is distinct from an existing Commonwealth Court action in which Republican lawmakers intervened to ask the court to stop the publication of the RGGI rule, which would make Pennsylvania the twelfth state to participate in the cap-and-trade program. The coalition claims that joining RGGI is a tax that requires legislative consent, that the state's Air Pollution Control Act prohibits the state from participating in an emissions trading program, and that the state had no in-person hearings during the public comment period. The group further asserts that the state lacks the authority to regulate CO2 emissions at all since CO2 does not fulfill the definition of "air pollution" under the Air Pollution Control Act.
Homer City to keep Pennsylvania coal plant open. After reevaluating the operation and economics of its power plant in Pennsylvania, Homer City Generation has chosen not to retire any coal-fired units. The company recently informed the PJM Interconnection that it will continue to operate the three-unit, 2GW Homer City plant "while exploring additional redevelopment projects to produce ongoing benefits to its local communities." In February, Homer City announced that it was considering shutting down the plant and had asked PJM to exempt it from participation in the upcoming 2023-24 base residual capacity auction. Any units that refuse to cooperate will most likely be deactivated in May 2023, according to Homer City. The corporation was considering "regulatory uncertainty," such as whether Pennsylvania would join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative officially (RGGI). The plant's operating performance, coal supply availability, and forward prices were also considered. Homer City did not elaborate on why it decided to keep the facility running.
Virginia intends to begin the RGGI exit process by 3Q. Virginia's top air regulator, Department of Environmental Quality announced that the state will formally begin the process of leaving the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) through emergency regulation by the third quarter of this year. The state is not yet ready to proceed due to the unusual nature of the process to exit the program, but plans to do so within a few months. Governor Glenn Youngkin presented a report outlining a potential regulatory route for exiting the program. Youngkin has argued that the rising expense of RGGI allowances represents an emergency, while his legal ability to abandon a program that the state enacted remains disputed. The report contained a proposed emergency regulation to depart the program, which might last up to two years, as well as a draft notice of intended regulatory action to make the rulemaking permanent in the future. Before the Air Pollution Control Board considers adopting an emergency rule proposed by DEQ, the attorney general must approve it.
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