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Summer 2020 Brought ERCOT Market Challenges, But Nothing Like 2019

REmap harnesses weather and power market data to show how wind and solar producers were financially impacted in August 2020 in ERCOT.

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The Texas power market made headlines in August 2019 when wholesale prices for electricity repeatedly spiked close to and even hit the $9,000-per-megawatt-hour (MWh) cap. This August, average hourly prices peaked at “just” $1,700 per MWh, the afternoon of Aug. 15.

There were many reasons for the reduced price volatility in Texas this year. First, it was hotter in Texas in August 2019, reaching 104 degrees in Houston on Aug. 13 and 14, versus this year’s high of 99 degrees on Aug. 16.

Peak demand was close to the same—74,820 MW on Aug. 12, 2019, versus 74,164 MW on Aug. 13 of this year, across ERCOT, the main Texas grid. But ERCOT’s reserve margins have increased since last year with the addition of new capacity—most notably solar.

‘Shape’ Of Texas Wind This Summer Spared Price Spikes

In ERCOT, we see that production-weighted prices for wind projects in August 2020 ranged from good to not-great. Most wind projects saw production-weighted prices in the high $10s to low $20s per MWh. Projects near the Gulf Coast were again the standout, getting into the $40s and $50s per MWh.

As we added data for this August and removed last August, the trailing 12-month average pricing for wind projects decreased across all of ERCOT’s major trading hubs, with prices now close to or dropping below all-time lows. But financial performance for clean energy buyers and sellers should also be measured through the “shape” metric.

Shape measures the value of a clean energy project’s generation relative to the value of baseload power. So for example, a renewable energy project that generated power only worth an average of $20 per MWh during a month when baseload power averaged $30 per MWh would have a negative $10 per MWh shape.

Figure 1. In August 2019, the most negative wind shape values were concentrated in the northeast part of Texas, whereas in this map from August 2020, the most negative shape values were concentrated in the northwest part of the state. Coast wind projects fared best.

The August 2020 shape (Figure 1) for wind projects ranged from -$15 per MWh relative to baseload, to more than +$16 per MWh, with the vast majority of operating projects falling toward the bottom of that range. While this is admittedly a volatile range, it pales in comparison to last summer, which saw wind project shape values as negative as -$111/MWh and as positive as $84/MWh.

Across both summers, the highest positive shape values were reserved for the few projects operating directly along the ERCOT coastline.

Solar Outperformed Wind, Though Moreso in 2019

For solar producers in ERCOT, meanwhile, production-weighted prices in the real-time market ranged from the low $50s per MWh to the low $60s per MWh. These prices were much higher than wind, but a far cry from last August, when Texas solar fetched rates nearing $350 per MWh.

Solar shape in ERCOT this August ranged from positive ($17 per MWh relative to baseload) to very positive (into the $30s per MWh). In August 2019 that positive shape ranged from the $80s to north of $200 per MWh—reinforcing how last August was comparatively more volatile, but also resulted in a higher payout for solar projects across the board.

However, it is worth highlighting here that a positive shape as compared to baseload power does not necessarily mean strong financial performance for a solar project, as its hedging strategy can cause high sensitivities to poorly-timed cloud cover. 

The image below (Figure 2) shows the shape value of solar in August 2020 when we compare the as-generated value of power against the average hourly generation profile (the “12×24 shape value”)—a structure that is used in some financial hedges for solar projects.

The cause of the disparity between the shape winners and shape losers during this period was primarily driven by a few hours of cloud cover, seen in the accompanying cloud cover photograph. (There was a similar story to tell in California this August, with ill-timed cloud cover hurting solar generation during price spikes).

Figure 2. August 2020 “12×24” solar shape values in West Texas were materially impacted by cloud cover, dipping lower than -$5/MWh in the ERCOT West real-time market.

REmap lets us leverage atmospheric science, power market modeling and big data to bring unprecedented transparency and insight to the clean energy industry — empowering better decisions, faster.

Figure 3. Cloud cover over ERCOT during an afternoon price spike on Aug. 31, 2020. Source: NEXLAB, College of Dupage

The lessons we draw from examining August 2020 and August 2019 region- and project-level performance highlight how weather and its timing can impact clean energy financial performance. Temperature, wind speed, and cloud cover (Figure 3)—and when they occur—are increasingly the drivers of success for a given project or off-take contract.


Reposted as in Power Magazine.

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Edwina Rasmussen
Associate, Analytics – Risk Analytics
Barbara Donnelly
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Barbara brings over 20 years of support experience to the REsurety team.  She has worked with startups and high-growth organizations to ensure an efficient and pleasant employee work experience.

Jhané Thomas
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Jhané Thomas is a DevOps Engineer with a pervasive background in CI/CD and automation. Prior to joining REsurety, she worked at large company focused on developing computer processors and related technologies, where she improved their CI/CD pipelines and testing infrastructure. At REsurety, she is building and improving the CI/CD infrastructure as well as implement more DevOps practices.


Ms. Thomas is in the process of attaining her Master’s degree in Information technology and has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, both from Johnson & Wales University.

Jessica Tomaszewski
Research Scientist

Jessica Tomaszewski is an atmospheric scientist with experience in boundary layer meteorology, numerical weather prediction, and wind resource assessment. Prior to joining REsurety, Dr. Tomaszewski completed a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship with a focus on simulating interactions between wind farms and the lower atmosphere. She also conducted two summer internships at NextEra Analytics investigating improvements to the wind farm wake modeling process. As a research scientist at REsurety, she investigates new techniques for wind flow and wake modeling and long-term wind resource prediction.


Dr. Tomaszewski holds Doctor of Philosophy and Master’s degrees in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma where she graduated with highest honors.

Jackson Myers
VP, Transaction Analytics

Jackson Myers has more than 7 years of experience in wind and solar energy operations. Prior to joining REsurety, Mr. Myers was a member of the meteorology team at Pattern Energy where he was responsible for the operational data analytics program. Prior to that, Mr. Myers worked at EDPR where he analyzed wind and solar plant performance and led a research program on the use of lightning detection technology at wind farms.


Mr. Myers holds a Bachelor’s degree in physics from McGill University and a Master’s degree in physics from Rice University.

Irina Gumennik
Associate, Risk Analytics

Irina Gumennik is an environmental engineer and data analyst with more than 10 years of experience in the development of renewable energy projects. Irina was part of the team that permitted, constructed, and commissioned the Block Island Wind Farm, the first offshore wind energy project in the United States. Before joining REsurety, Irina worked for the world’s largest demand response service provider on demand-side solutions and battery storage products for commercial and institutional energy users. At REsurety, Irina evaluates weather-related volumetric risk and structures hedging contracts to mitigate that risk for clean energy buyers and sellers.

 

Ms. Gumennik holds a Master’s degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard University.

Elizabeth Kalikasingh
Senior Analyst, Risk Analytics

Lizzy Kalikasingh is a materials engineer and scientist with experience in materials selection and optimization for wind and solar technology. Before joining REsurety, Lizzy researched polymer coatings to reduce ice adhesion for wind turbine blades and was involved in the selling of renewable energy credits generated by wind turbines in Cleveland.  Additionally, she worked as an operations engineer at EverPower Windholdings, where she designed tools to analyze the performance of wind turbines and auxiliary instruments. 

Ms. Kalikasingh holds a Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

David Simons
Software Engineer

David Simons is an engineer with experience in energy systems and data science. Prior to joining REsurety, David led the Systems & Analytics team at Enel X, building software to settle demand response events for the world’s largest DR provider. At REsurety, he develops and improves the analytics used to predict renewable energy revenue and quantify risk.


Mr. Simons holds a Bachelor’s degree in Energy Systems Engineering from the University of Toronto as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from McGill University.

Daniel Jang
Power Markets Research Associate

Daniel Jang is a researcher with experience in fundamentals-based modeling of electric power systems. Before joining REsurety, he worked in the utilities practice at the Brattle Group, consulting on issues spanning wholesale and retail electricity in litigation and commercial contexts. At REsurety, he is helping to advance renewable power price analytics. 


Mr. Jang holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from Princeton University.

Chris Marlowe
Associate, Operations
Brian Sousa
Risk and Transaction Analyst
Blair Allen
Product Manager, Information Services

Blair Allen is a product manager with experience in energy information services products that support both ends of energy market exposure, from the project development phase to managing merchant generation. Before joining REsurety, Mr. Allen worked at a large energy data and analytics company as the Chief of Staff to their Power business unit, helping to manage, develop, and grow the company’s global portfolio of electricity market products and services. Prior to that he worked as a Senior Market Analyst offering price and congestion forecasts to customers with physical or financial risk in the Mid-continent ISO.


Mr. Allen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Bucknell University, with a minor in Economics.

Anshal Savla
Data Engineer

Anshal Savla is an engineer with expertise in building data pipelines and automated workflows.  Before joining the REsurety team, he worked as a Data Analyst at New York City Transit where he built a data pipeline to analyze employee attrition trends. At REsurety, he is working on building and optimizing automated data pipelines to support the company’s analysis of wind speed and electric power generation and pricing data.


Mr. Savla holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from New York University and a Bachelor’s degree in Information and Technology from NMIMS University, in India.

Marion Cundari
Senior Analyst, Transaction Analytics

Marion Cundari is a mechanical engineer with experience in both wind energy and energy efficiency program evaluation. While earning her bachelor’s degree, Marion helped develop a sound based wind turbine condition monitoring prototype as her senior project. After graduation and before joining REsurety, Marion calculated energy and demand savings associated with utility sponsored energy efficiency programs throughout the United States.


Ms. Cundari holds a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering and a minor in economics from the University of Vermont.

Aaron Perry
Associate, Analytics – Risk Analytics

Aaron Perry is a meteorologist with experience in wind resource assessment, climate science, and numerical weather prediction. Before joining REsurety he worked for Vaisala, performing wind and solar resource assessments, and analyzing hundreds of pre-construction and operational projects around the world. As part of his Master’s studies he researched supply-side volumetric risk to renewable energy companies and the financial tools that may reduce this risk.  At REsurety Aaron evaluates weather related volumetric risk and structures hedging contracts to mitigate that risk for clean energy buyers and sellers.


Mr. Perry holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the Central European University in Hungary, Lund University in Sweden, and the University of Manchester in the UK. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric Science from Cornell University.

Aaron Nickelsberg
Product Manager
David Luke Oates
VP of Power Markets Research

David Luke Oates is an engineer and researcher with experience in statistical and fundamentals-based modeling of wholesale electricity systems.  Before joining the REsurety team, he was a consultant at the Brattle Group, supporting electricity market operators, utilities, and asset owners to address market design, asset valuation, and regulatory questions. At REsurety, he is helping to advance power price analytics in the context of emerging issues in the electricity sector.

 

Dr. Oates holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University, Canada.

Jennifer Newman
VP of Atmospheric Science Research

Jennifer Newman is an atmospheric scientist with experience in boundary layer meteorology, remote sensing, machine learning, and wind resource assessment. Prior to joining REsurety, Dr. Newman completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with a focus on improving turbulence estimates from Doppler wind lidars. As a research scientist at REsurety, she investigates new methods for estimating the risk of potential wind projects.


Dr. Newman holds Doctor of Philosophy and Master’s degrees in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric Science from Cornell University where she graduated with distinction in research.

Tony Lapolito
SVP of Product

Tony Lapolito is the Senior Vice President, Product of REsurety.  He has been a part of multiple early stage companies that have generated well over $1B in liquidity.  Tony is a pioneer in many disruptive technologies including digital media, CDNs, cloud, distributed computing and big data.  He has held senior Product, Marketing and UX positions at Cisco Systems, BNI and SightPath (both acquired by Cisco), Chipcom (acquired by 3Com) as well as Signiant and SevOne. 


Tony holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Massachusetts, Lowell and a Masters of Business Administration from Boston College.

Adam Reeve
SVP of Software

Adam Reeve is a mechanical engineer and data scientist with a strong interest in the rapidly evolving renewable energy landscape. Before joining the REsurety team, he worked for a proprietary trading firm specializing in quantitative analysis of energy markets. His deep experience in data-driven analysis, model building, risk assessment and data visualization support REsurety’s analytical approach to quantifying and managing the weather-linked revenue risks of wind power projects.


Mr. Reeve holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Political Science from Yale College, with a focus on energy and environmental studies. He graduated with distinction in both majors.

Carl Ostridge
SVP of Analytics

Carl Ostridge has more than 10 years of wind energy experience specializing in pre-construction and operational wind resource and energy yield assessments. Prior to joining REsurety, Mr. Ostridge worked for DNV GL analyzing and improving the accuracy of wind farm energy analyses and developing models to predict wind farm energy output and revenue on hourly timescales. He also led research activities focusing on turbine performance, wind flow and wake modeling, measurement instrument accuracy, and wind resource variability and long-term trends. His extensive industry experience and proven analytical skills support REsurety’s industry-leading tools and expertise in weather-related risk and valuation for renewable energy projects. 


Mr. Ostridge holds a Master’s degree in Astrophysics from the University of Exeter in the UK.

Lee Taylor
CEO

Lee Taylor is the Co-Founder and CEO of REsurety.  Since founding REsurety in 2012 to commercialize research he conducted at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, Mr. Taylor has built a rapidly growing company, gained institutional financing and attracted top-notch talent, advisors and directors. Today, REsurety’s products are not only award winning, but are redefining the way clean energy buyers and sellers are thinking about and managing risk. Under Mr. Taylor’s stewardship, REsurety has amassed contracts supporting more than 5,000 MW of renewable energy generation capacity, and counts many of the U.S. — if not the world’s — largest companies as customers and partners, including Microsoft, Invenergy, Capital Power, Southern Company, Nephila Climate, and Allianz.


Mr. Taylor holds an MBA from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where he was named an Edward Tuck Scholar (awarded for academic achievement) and recipient of the Lt. Walter Jacobs Memorial Prize (awarded for intellectual leadership). He also holds Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Biology from the University of Virginia.

David Luke Oates
VP, Power Markets Research

David Luke Oates is an engineer and researcher with experience in statistical and fundamentals-based modeling of wholesale electricity systems.  Before joining the REsurety team, he was a consultant at the Brattle Group, supporting electricity market operators, utilities, and asset owners to address market design, asset valuation, and regulatory questions. At REsurety, he is helping to advance power price analytics in the context of emerging issues in the electricity sector.


Dr. Oates holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University, Canada.

Karl Critz
CTO

Karl Critz is a software engineer with experience in simulation, modeling, machine vision, and data visualization. His work in renewables has integrated solar power with smart residential load sources and optimized generation strategies for high-penetration wind. As an experienced software architect, Karl ensures that REsurety’s analytical infrastructure is functional, reliable, and scalable.


Mr. Critz holds a Master’s degree in Management and Engineering from MIT Sloan, where he received an NREL Innovative Research Analysis Award grant for wind integration research. Mr. Critz also holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.

Marcial Santiago
Data Quality Engineer

Marcial Santiago is a data engineer with a background in software development and mathematics. Before joining REsurety and the renewable energy industry, he worked as a Data Specialist at McLean Hospital. Mr. Santiago’s background in mathematics and software development help ensure the quality of to REsurety’s data-intensive approach to risk evaluation and mitigation.


Mr. Santiago holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computational Mathematics from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.

Mark Brewer
Data Visualization Engineer
Martin Richard
Data Engineer
Caelin Schaefer
Risk and Transaction Analyst
Jeremy Traurig
Software Engineer
Alexndra Nelson
Risk and Transaction Analyst
Chris Prince
SVP of Engineering
Devon Lukas
Risk and Transaction Analyst
Enter to Watch Demo Videos
Praneeth Gurumurthy
Jr. Software Engineer
Pete Florenzano
Senior Data Engineer
Nathan Garcia
Software Quality Engineer
Eddy Page
Software Engineer, Data Science
David McDougall
VP, Software Sales
Amit Ranjan
Power Markets Research Associate

Amit Ranjan is an engineer and researcher with experience in fundamentals-based modeling of wholesale electricity markets. Before joining the REsurety team, he was a Senior Analyst at National Grid where he improved the fidelity of long-term capacity expansion models to support corporate strategy initiatives. He also studied the financial and electric system peak implications of electrifying heating in buildings across the US Northeast. At REsurety, he is helping to advance power price analytics amid evolving market designs, increasing penetration of renewable energy and changing policy landscape.

Mr. Ranjan holds a Master’s degree in Energy and Environmental Management from Duke University and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Delhi Technological University, India.

Matthew Livingston
Senior Associate, Risk Analytics

Matthew Livingston is a meteorologist with experience in weather forecasting and data analysis. Before joining the REsurety team, Matt worked for Penn State University as a researcher responsible for collecting and analyzing data retrieved from hail storms to help aid in the prediction of large hail events.


Mr. Livingston holds a Bachelor’s degree in Meteorology with a focus in Weather Risk Management from the Pennsylvania State University. In addition to his meteorology degree, he also minored in Energy, Business and Finance.

Aaron Carbine
Sr. Software Engineer
Yu Wang
Software Quality Manager

Yu Wang is the Software Quality Engineering Manager at REsurety who lays out the quality vision and oversees the quality activities of REsurety’s Risk, Platform and Information products. Before joining Resurety, Mr Wang built his more than twenty years of Software Quality Engineering tenure at MathWorks, Teradyne, Motorola and Amica by leading technical projects, managing onshore and offshore quality engineering teams, working cross-functionally, delivering high quality on-premises, distributed and cloud based software applications.

Mr Wang holds a Master’s degree in Software Reliability Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park.

 
Steven Kalt
Data Visualization Engineer

Steven Kalt is a full-stack developer with experience in data visualization, GIS, web design, and renewable energy origination. Before joining REsurety, he worked for Lux Research, designing interactive visualizations and developing research tools. At REsurety, Mr. Kalt works to build modular, scalable, and informative data visualization systems. 


Mr. Kalt holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Shane Hall
Software Engineer

Shane Hall trained as a mechanical engineer, but pivoted to software engineering after gaining academic research experience in the aerodynamic modeling of wind turbines. He has worked at ISO-NE modeling renewable resources, and as a software engineer in the energy consulting industry building financial software products and running commodity market forecasting to advise on procurement strategy in the C&I space. He has extensive experience in resource and market modeling, machine learning forecasting, and software product development.  At REsurety, Shane builds and improves software that analyzes renewable resources and assesses financial risk.


Mr. Hall holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Bachelor’s degree in Energy Engineering, and a Certificate in Wind Power Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Sarah Sofia
Software Engineer

Sarah Sofia is a photovoltaics engineer with extensive research experience in techno-economic analysis of solar cells and solar-plus-storage systems at high PV adoption rates. Prior to joining REsurety, Sarah performed doctoral research at MIT to determine how novel solar cell architectures and storage technologies could be made economically viable through combining experimental device fabrication, module manufacturing and system cost analysis, and location specific energy yield modeling to inform the optimal solar cell device design. At REsurety, Sarah is developing the team’s solar energy modeling software capabilities.


Dr. Sofia holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, as well as Bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Astronomy with a concentration in scientific computing from Haverford College.

Sahar Shirani
Director, Engineering – Data Science

Sahar Shirani is a civil engineer with extensive background in data analysis and statistical model development. Prior to joining REsurety, she worked at a Boston-based startup focused on treating industrial water, where she conducted market analysis on commodities. At REsurety, she is building and continuously improving the data science platform that powers REsurety’s insights into the renewable energy markets.


Ms. Shirani holds a Master’s degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Northeastern University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Amirkabir Unviersity of Technology, in Iran.

Peter Richardson
Engineering Manager, Visualization and Apps

Peter Richardson is an Engineering Manager at REsurety with a focus on data visualization. He has been at the crossroads of Energy markets and data management for over a decade working on a variety of projects including human capacity development for renewable energy systems in the Galapagos Islands and the buildout of analytic software packages for financial contracts in wholesale electricity markets. 


Mr. Richardson holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Colorado College, with a minor in Mathematics. 

Owen Miles
Software Engineer

Owen Miles is a GIS specialist with experience in mapping and visualizing large environmental datasets.  Before joining REsurety, Owen worked in the environmental consulting field, where he specialized in numerical modeling and data visualization for environmental projects. At REsurety, he is building GIS and data visualization tools.


Owen has a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Queen’s University and a Bachelor degree in Water Resources Engineering.

Omri Schwarz
Software Quality Engineer

Omri Schwarz has a long career of software development, quality assurance, and full-stack software and hardware implementation in academic and commercial contexts. Prior to REsurety, Mr. Schwarz designed, developed and administered quality assurance processes at a quantitative hedge fund, operated Beowulf supercomputers at MIT, and developed software at Fraunhofer. At REsurety, Mr. Schwarz supports the developers by implementing and upgrading the QA process, putting stitches in time to save nine. 


Mr. Schwarz has a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

Michelle Bowen
Director, Business Development

Michelle Bowen is a business development professional who is passionate about ushering in a new clean energy era. Before joining the REsurety team, she worked in origination of long-term renewable energy offtake agreements at a leading, global renewable energy company.

Michelle holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering from Rice University.

Sinéad Barry-O’Brien
COO

Sinéad Barry-O’Brien is a leader in operations with proven execution across varied industries. Putting customers at the center of decision-making, she has driven growth through customer experience, team-building, and process improvement. Sinéad has supported global M&A strategies to build market share. She is passionate about scaling entrepreneurial companies in growth industries.


Sinéad holds a Master’s degree in International Public Policy and Diplomacy, from University College Cork, and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the National University of Ireland, Galway.