Wholesale electricity prices have fallen dramatically in most organized markets in the United States over the last decade, largely due to a steep reduction in the price of natural gas. But growth in wind and solar generation, fairly flat trends in electrical load, and new natural-gas power plant additions have also played a role.
A report from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, The Impact of Wind, Solar, and Other Factors on Wholesale Power Prices: An Historical Analysis—2008 through 2017, analyzes the drivers of price changes using two approaches. First, price dynamics between 2008 and 2017 are assessed using a supply curve model. Second, hourly wholesale prices at more than 60,000 pricing nodes are used to highlight the impacts of wind, solar, and other factors on geographic and temporal pricing patterns.