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(Bloomberg) — Texas can thank near-record wind output for a slump in power prices to the lowest in five years.

On-peak power at the North hub, which includes Dallas, slid $4.10, or 23 percent, to $13.49 a megawatt-hour for the hour ended at 1 p.m. local time from Nov. 13, grid data compiled by Bloomberg show. It’s headed toward the lowest full-day average since at least Nov. 9, 2010.

The price plunge illustrates how sensitive U.S. power markets have become to the swings in intermittent renewable energy resources such as wind, which accounts for more than 10 percent of generation on the Texas grid.
Wind output on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. network reached 11,948 megawatts at 12:45 p.m. The average for the noon hour, 11,697 megawatts, was above the day-ahead forecast of 11,274 megawatts, according to the grid’s website. The instantaneous wind output record of 12,238 megawatts was set Oct. 22, John Julitz, a grid spokesman, said by e-mail.
“Ercot’s low pricing is being driven by potentially record- breaking wind generation in the forecast for today,” Rhodri Williams, a Boston-based Genscape Inc. analyst, said in an electronic message. “We think there’s risk for it to break the current record set in October.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Harry R. Weber in Houston at hweber14@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net Stephen Cunningham