Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 2:46PM Over the past couple of months, natural gas futures contracts have dropped as low as $3.53 on June 28 after reaching a one-year high of $4.53 on May 1. There is support at $3.40. Below is a price chart of the August future contract over the past twelve months:
Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 2:45PM EarlyBird has coordinated with Southern Sky Renewable Energy on the largest private solar deal in Massachusetts. Here is a photo from the Carver site this morning:
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 at 11:57AM On Friday, June 7, the Massachusetts DOER held a meeting to discuss the finalization of the current SREC program in addition to the implementation of the next program. The meeting was crucial in addressing the ramifications of the unexpected announcement it made on Wednesday, May 29, saying that the current SREC program had reached its 400 MW capacity. Many people in the industry had expected the program to be closed in 2014, indicative of a higher demand for projects than originally anticipated. The meeting in part laid out an expansion of the current program with applications based on size (projects less than or equal to 100 kW and projects greater than 100 kW).
The DOER set to adapt a new overall solar capacity goal of 1,600 MW for the next phase of the SREC program. The final size of the next SREC program is dependent on the number of facilities that meet the criteria for the current program. For example, if 600 MW of capacity is approved in the current program, the next SREC program will allow for 1,000 MW of eligible capacity. The DOER is waiting for legislature to determine the outcome of H2915, a bill that if passed would establish a floor of SREC prices in periods of SREC excess supply. The current floor price in the auction is $285; however, the market for short-term SRECs is trading at $200 given the excess supply.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 at 1:28PM Fixed basic service, July through December (in $/kWh):
Monthly basic service (in $/kWh):
Residential
Commercial, Street Lighting
Industrial (NEMA)
Industrial (SEMA)
Monday, June 3, 2013 at 1:46PM In the Northeast this summer natural gas prices are expected to rise due to increase demand. Some experts are saying natural gas in the Northeast may average $5-$5.50 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) or even in the $7-$8 per MMBtu range. Natural gas prices at Algonquin City Gates, the pipeline system that delivers gas to New England, have been less than $5 from 2009-2012. The companies (Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, Spectra Energy Corp., and Williams Cos.) that own the Northeast’s main pipelines say they are currently running at or near capacity. Natural gas futures prices have seen a substantial increase since the beginning of the year and reached $4.50 per MMBtu on May 1.
Algonquin City Gates gas rose to a premium of $30.82 per MMBtu at the Henry Hub in Erath, Louisiana on January 24. Spot prices soared to $34.28 per MMBtu. Both figures are nine-year highs. Cold weather in January helped raise prices. So too could hot weather in the summer, causing a spike in prices, as utilities need fuel to power air conditioners; however, these increases may be limited if power generators switch from gas to coal or if the U.S. begins to import from Canada again.
In its April 9 Short-term Energy Outlook, the Energy Information Administration reported that natural gas-fired electric plants surged by 51 percent to 554,000 MWh per day in 2012 from 2008. The EIA expects electricity from gas-fired plants to decrease very slightly in 2013 (535,000 MWh per day), which will still make up a large percentage of the total electricity output in the region. Prices at the Henry Hub have dropped substantially since 2008 as fracking has made drilling more economically efficient. Despite this price drop, New England has become more reliant on natural gas, and perhaps dangerously so when the storage levels are considered. Storage in the East region over the past couple of months has been well below the year-ago level and the five-year average. The most recent EIA weekly natural gas report saw that despite a strong increase in storage, the East region still sat at 910 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending May 24, 31.0 percent below the year-ago data (1,319 Bcf) and 10.8 percent below the five-year average (1,020 Bcf).
