April, May and June of 2020 will likely stand for some time as the landmark for depressed quarterly wholesale power sales, according to data filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and compiled by S&P Global Platts.
The brunt of the coronavirus pandemic and attendant stay-at-home policies hit power demand hard in the second quarter of 2020, with sales of wholesale power off 4.5% compared with the same period last year, and totaling 1.27 billion MWh. In Q2 2019, wholesale power sales totaled 1.33 billion MWh. The Q2 2020 sales total was the lowest since Q1 2017.
Wholesale power sales fell 4.7% on a year-on-year basis in the PJM Interconnection market, according to the data. Sales in the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council market were off 8.1%, while the New York Independent System Transmission Operator, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas markets were off 7.6%, 7.5% and 7.3%, respectively.
Sales were down 6.1% in ISO New England and 2.6% in the California Independent System Operator market.
The fall-off in Q2 was felt in all, but two regional markets around the country - the Southwest Power Pool and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. Sales in SPP were up 6%, largely due to the influx of wind generation, while sales in WECC were up 2.3%.
The sellers
According to the data, 588 utilities, trading companies and banks reported sales in the quarter, with 31 of the top 50 showing year-on-year wholesale power sales declines.
The top seller was, again, Exelon Generation & Affiliates, whose sales were down 3.3% compared to Q2 2019. Among the top ten, nine wholesale power sellers saw declines, with Citigroup Energy's sales off 20.1%, American Electric Power Regulated Utilities' sales down 12.5% and BP Energy's off 15.4%.
Only NextEra Energy Resources, which was ranked fifth in Q2 with total wholesale power sales of 40.7 million MWh, eked out a positive sales increase of 0.6% in Q2 2020 over Q2 2019.
The Juno, Florida-based subsidiary of NextEra Energy, benefited from being the largest seller of both wind and solar wholesale power in Q2 in several regional markets. It sold 14.2 million MWh of wholesale wind power, an increase of 17.2% compared to Q2 2019, and 1.9 million MWh of wholesale solar power, a year-on-year increase of 25.3%.
According to the data, total wholesale wind power sales across the country were up 16.2% in Q2 2020 to 74.4 million MWh, while wholesale solar power sales grew 21.2% year-over-year, to 17.4 million MWh.
Combined wind and solar wholesale power sales of 91.8 million MWh was up 17.2% compared to Q2 2019, and made up 7.1% of the total of 1.27 billion MWh of wholesale power sold.
Among the 19 companies on the list of top 50 wholesale power sellers who also showed increases in sales in Q2 were Dominion Regulated, Direct Energy, Ameren Regulated Utilities, Bonneville Power Administration, Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Enel Green Power North America.
Delivery points
Of the top ten wholesale power delivery points in the country, six showed wholesale power sales declines, while four had sales increases.
The leading delivery point, according to the data, was ERCOT North, where 97.5 million MWh of wholesale power was reported delivered. That was a decline of 12.2% compared to Q2 2019, when 111 million MWh were reported sold.
The second and third most active delivery points—PJM AEP Zone and PJM COMED Zone—declined 8.7% and 13.8%, respectively.
Deliveries at ERCOT Houston were reported down 19.5%.
Two PJM delivery points showed increased sales. The PJM West Hub was up 10.4% while year over year deliveries increased at PJM Dominion Zone 13.3%.
ERCOT West, where wind and solar generation is increasingly being installed, saw wholesale power deliveries increase 13.9% in Q2 2020 over Q2 2019, to total 37.3 million MWh.
