The State of New York may be a microcosm of our nation’s energy past and future. New York has been trying to balance nuclear power plant retirements with new gas-fired generation while also encouraging the development of renewable power assets. On Friday morning, April 30, the last functioning nuclear reactor at Indian Point was shut down. For the past 60 years, electricity from this nuclear power plant provided New York with 565 Terawatt-hours of electricity. Before the second reactor was shut down last year, Entergy, the operator of Indian Point, estimated that the output of the two reactors supplied the Lower Hudson Valley and New York City with approximately 25% of its electricity. Environmentalists and politicians alike have described Indian Point as a threat to the safety of the millions of people who live near the plant, located 35 miles north of New York City, and many cheered its removal from service.

Wholesale electricity prices in New York City have been rising for the last several months. Figure 1 shows how forward prices for calendar years 2022 through 2025 have been trading over the last five years. Note that wholesale prices were at a low at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Despite a correction in the late fall when the market dropped, the overall trend has been bullish for nearly a year. Additionally, this is a classic example of a contango market, where prices get more expensive with each subsequent time period in the forwards. Figure 1 also shows that the least expensive calendar year is 2022 and that 2025 is the most expensive.

On Tuesday, March 16, 2021, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) released a status report on “Regulations Establishing Energy Efficiency Standards.” In addition to reporting on the status of energy efficiency regulations, this report includes recommended amendments to New York law that would add new categories to the state’s energy efficiency performance standards. These recommendations have been crafted into a “Program Bill” – legislation written by the Governor’s administration – which is being shopped around in the State Legislature for a sponsor.

Electricity prices in NYC are starting to show signs of consolidation. Earlier this winter, mild temperatures in the months of November and December placed downward pressure on both near-term gas and power futures prices. This can be seen in Figure 1, which shows wholesale forward electricity prices in NYC for calendar years 2022 through 2025. This market correction, which lasted through the end of December, created good purchasing opportunities for many in NYC. Since the beginning of the year, prices have rallied, increasing between 2.5% and 5.1% across all calendar years except 2023. Note the flat to downward slope of electricity prices for calendar year 2023 (black line). While near-term prices in 2022 have rallied, falling prices in 2023 and have produced a degree of consolidation and created good purchasing opportunities.

In his 2021 State of the State address on January 11th, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy as an opportunity for New York to stimulate the economy in the post-COVID world. Cuomo highlighted four components that need to be addressed simultaneously to seize the moment:

Every four years, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) commissions a study to evaluate and forecast the balance of electricity supply and demand in the state. This study considers the economy, demographics, implementation of energy efficiency measures and many other factors used to assess the amount of electricity needed across the state. This latest study examined the period from May 2021 to April 2025, in an attempt to determine the amount of electricity supply that is needed to keep up with expected changes in demand. Notably, the economic effects and the demand destruction in New York State and New York City caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are built in to this study. This is a critical point because there was a 13% reduction in electricity consumption in NYC during the first wave of this pandemic in March-April 2020^[1]. This change in electricity demand, driven mainly by the pandemic is shown below in Figure 1. This recently released study from the NYISO predicts that there will be less demand for electricity supply in the state of New York, which resets and lowers the demand curve that is used to establish the price for capacity. This is important for electricity buyers because it will likely lower the future cost of capacity.

In New York, the 2020 election was a big deal. It’s the first time since the 1930s that Democrats have successfully held a majority in the State Senate. While the Presidential race in New York was called for President-Elect Joe Biden almost immediately after polls closed, which gave the illusion of completion, the state is still counting ballots today. This year, as is true every other year, every member of the State Legislature was up for reelection. While incumbents certainly carry an advantage into any election cycle, New York has seen a political awakening following the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. This movement carried a new, Democratic majority into power in the State Senate in 2018 and lead to many moderate Democrats being swept out in favor of more liberal candidates.

It’s got Jim Cramer saying it’s “sexy” and natural gas companies betting their futures on it. What are we talking about? Green hydrogen (GH2). And no, GH2 isn’t just hydrogen by another name, it’s hydrogen produced by renewable energy and there are several important reasons why its trending today.  

October 31st is the deadline for building owners to post their Energy Efficiency Rating Label. This is required for all buildings over 25,000 square feet that are listed on the 2020 Covered Buildings List for benchmarking compliance. In December 2017, the New York City Council passed Local Law 33, which was later amended by Local Law 95 in 2019, requiring building owners to post this label in a conspicuous location near each public entrance. The intent of this law is to provide transparency into a building’s energy usage and efficiency.

Lately, the bulls have been running in NYC’s electricity market but there has also been a consolidation in forward prices. Figure 1 shows calendar year strips for wholesale electricity in New York City for 2021 through 2024. Wholesale prices in all calendar years hit their all-time lows in late March/early April, shown in the red oval, and have rallied over the last 6 months. Also note that over the last two years, near-term prices have always been less expensive that longer-term prices. This can be seen in the figure below as calendars 2021 and 2022 (blue and black lines) have consistently been less than 2023 and 2024 (green and yellow lines). This is referred to as a contango market, where prices get more expensive into the future.