The Northeast Electricity Grid -- PJM -- Is Likely To "Hold" -- February 19, 2015

I forgot to post this earlier today. A reader sent me a link to this article which reminded me of my oversight:

Natural gas fill rate (a dynamic link): -111.

Again, at the link, scroll to the bottom of the page, and look at the graph. I find this absolutely incredible. You really have to zoom in, but the current curve is very, very slightly above the 5-year average. With the amount of natural gas that is being used in this very cold winter, this is really quite remarkable.

Which leads me to the aforementioned article that a reader sent me earlier. Last year at this time there were concerns whether the PJM grid, the electrical grid in the northeast, would "hold" this year. It has and it's another interesting story being reported in Pittsburgh Business Times:

Demand on the regional electrical grid Thursday night and Friday will probably exceed the height of last year's uber-cold Polar Vortex, but PJM Interconnection and utilities say they're more than ready to meet those needs.

The electrical grid operator PJM Interconnection expects a peak of about 140,000 megawatts of electricity to be generated and delivered to customers Thursday in the Pittsburgh region and elsewhere in its multistate footprint, much of which is being battered by either subzero temperatures, snow or both.

That's about the same level as the Polar Vortex, when there was 140,510 megawatts for peak demand on January 7, 2014, after temperatures plunged below zero in much of the Northeast including Pittsburgh. PJM expects demand to go between 1,000 and 2,000 megawatts higher around 8 a.m. Friday after temperatures plunge to the double-digits below zero, even in some parts of western Pennsylvania.

If you think it's colder than the average winter and, even than last year, you're not imagining it. February is tracking 9.2 degrees below normal per day, when the average high should be 39.3 degrees instead of the 30.6 dgrees it is so far in Pittsburgh. The average low so far in February is 11.2 degrees, instead of the normal 23 degrees. Last year's average for the entire winter was 5.4 degrees below normal.

More at the link.

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Foreign Investment Continues

Houston Business Journal is reporting:

Norway-based Yara International ASA and German chemical giant BASF SE confirmed they will build a major ammonia plant in Freeport to open in 2017 at BASF's existing property.

The companies stated that the $600 million "world-scale" plant will use hydrogen as raw material, which will reduce capital expenditures, maintenance and carbon dioxide emissions significantly. Yara and BASF said last year that they wanted to build the plant in Freeport but that they were still awaiting board and regulatory approvals at that time.