White Papers Improving Data Aggregation and Analysis to Address | Page 5

Improving Data Aggregation and Analysis
facilities and process trains coming online in the next
two years, total takeaway via LNG could reach as
much as 4-5 BCF/day.
Should the forecasted growth in export volumes oc-
cur, supplies in the Gulf Coast region could tighten
and significant price volatility could result. As such, in-
creasing exports will impact the broader North Amer-
ican gas market - implying that all traders, whether
or not they ship gas to Mexico or trade LNG direct-
ly, need to remain abreast of these market develop-
ments, including regional supply and demand balanc-
es, projected and actual export volumes, and even
price movements at the emerging global LNG trading
hubs in Europe and Asia.
Aside from exports, the increasing reliance on nat-
ural gas for power production, including baseload
generation, has not only increased domestic natural
A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper
gas demand, but has also forced greater operation-
al coordination between the gas and power markets.
FERC Order 809, implemented in April 2016, added
an additional intraday gas scheduling cycle to address
a mismatch between intraday generation operations
and the fuel purchases and deliveries on which the
plant operators rely. Though improving operational
flexibility for generators, natural gas schedulers’ and
traders’ workloads have increased, and have made
timely market data and operational flow information
an imperative for maintaining profitable operations.
Given the additional scheduling cycle and the shorter
windows for intraday adjustments, gas shippers must
react quickly to pipeline cuts - analyzing supply and
market impacts, and identifying alternatives for opti-
mizing flows or trading in or out of imbalances in their
intraday positions. Without this type of analysis and
full visibility of the value of the alternatives, a day’s
profitability could vanish with a single pipeline cut.
INFLUX OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IS
CHALLENGING OPERATORS AND TRADERS
The influx of renewable energy resources, including wind, utility scale solar and distributed solar
have challenged grid operators in maintaining market stability and impacted traditional power
generators. According to the EIA, in March 2017, wind and solar sources exceeded 10% of the
total electric power generated in the US for the first time – up from the 7% contributed by wind
and solar for the full year 2016.
As these renewable resources are highly variable,
and their output will rise and fall with conditions that
can’t be controlled, their increasing contributions
are forcing grid operators from New York to Califor-
nia to develop new operational strategies, tools and
markets in order to ensure grid stability. While the
© Commodity Technology Advisory LLC, 2017, All Rights Reserved.