In the last two years the NEM 5-min prices fall to the floor more often than hit the cap as some regions struggle to deal with mid-day excess supply. This has raised questions about whether the price floor, which has stayed at -$1000/MWh for years, will be changed by the reliability panel in the upcoming reliability standard and settings review.
In this “Chart of the week”, we will examine how the breakdown of “close-to-floor” price events has changed recently and discuss the implications on setting the price floor.