PJM Finally Holds 2022/23 Capacity Auction, & Prices Are In The Basement

PJM finally holds capacity auction and prices sink; Norway rocks EV sales (again); China's BYD bringing e-buses to the U.S.; 7-11 is going to charge your EV; numerous companies lining up to recycle the batteries.

1) After 3 years, PJM holds capacity auction for 2022-23 delivery year, and costs averaged close to $50/MW a day for 144,477 MW of capacity, well under the $140 price reached in last (2018) auction. This, despite MOPR requiring state-subsidized resources to bid in at specific floor prices. Coal plants got hurt, and 2 Exelon nukes failed to clear price hurdles.

2) Norway registered 8,500 EVs in May, at 60.4% of all sales and 83% if plug-in hybrids included. Ford's Ford Mustang Mach-E, w/1,384 new registrations, came 1st.

3) China's BYD brings electric school buses to N. America, with bidirectional charging capabilities.

4) 7-Eleven upping its EV fast-charging game w/plans for 500 DC fast-charging stations at 250 N American locations by the end of 2022.

5) Lithium-ion battery recycling industry is gearing up quickly w/ two announcements last week. S. Korean steel company, POSCO to set up a recycling business w/Chinese company Huayou Cobalt, investing about €88 million to build processing plant in Gwangyang. Canadian companies, Stelco and Primobius, a JV between Australian company Neometals and Germany's SMS group, to build another facility to recover and recycle metals from lithium-ion batteries in North America, at 20,000 tons.