Power, markets, flexible RA,and the money behind the grid
MARKETS · Section
Wholesale electricity, capacity auctions, and the price signals driving investment decisions.
MARKETS
PJM wanted new large loads to bring their own capacity or be curtailed first in emergencies. FERC rejected the mechanism on jurisdictional grounds — leaving state prepayments and a capacity market pinned at its cap to carry the cost.
MARKETS
PJM's one-time Reliability Backstop Procurement was supposed to buy new capacity outside the regular auction. FERC accepted it, suspended it for five months, and left the hardest question — who pays — unanswered.
MARKETS
Google Energy's new Category 2 seller designation is the regulatory paperwork for the hyperscaler era — and a test of how wholesale markets treat buyers who become generators.
MARKETS
The Ratepayer Protection Act fell three votes short in the Senate — but its core principle, that large loads should pay for the grid they use, has resurfaced tougher inside the permitting bill.
MARKETS
Your electricity bill translates volatile wholesale markets into a stable monthly charge — here's the anatomy of that translation.
MARKETS
In some states a monopoly utility sells you power at regulated rates; in others you choose among competing retailers. The difference shapes everything.
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Electricity can't be stockpiled, so when supply runs short, prices do the rationing — violently.
MARKETS
Frequency regulation, reserves, and black start — the small, essential markets that keep the grid stable second by second.
MARKETS
Energy markets pay generators for megawatt-hours produced; capacity markets pay them for megawatts available. Both are needed to keep the grid reliable.
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Every five minutes, the grid's price is set by the cost of the most expensive generator needed to meet the next megawatt.
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Independent grid operators run the auctions, dispatch the plants, and keep the lights on across two-thirds of the U.S.
MARKETS
The wholesale electricity market is where generators sell power to utilities and retailers — and it shapes every bill you pay.