News

Ascend Energy Exchange (AEX™) Again Selected by ESA Solar for Strategic Asset Sale Management

Ascend Analytics (“Ascend”), the leading provider of market intelligence and analytics solutions for the energy supply, announced that it has launched a sales process on behalf of ESA Solar Energy, LLC (“ESA”) for its Massachusetts battery energy storage system (BESS) portfolio.

Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), a community choice aggregator (CCA) in CAISO, announces a request for proposals to meet its Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and reliability goals.

Originally published in Canary Media by Jeff St. John | February 26, 2025

Insulating utility customers from bearing the costs of data center power demand is a core feature of these tariffs.

Originally published in Energy Storage News by April Bonner | February 24, 2025

Using battery energy storage systems (BESS) to provide ancillary services has not only been a popular use, but one that has been historically profitable, especially in the ERCOT market.

New product expands and upgrades the capabilities of Ascend’s BatterySIMM™, to value the full stack of energy projects, evaluate power markets and optimize site selection.

Ascend Analytics (“Ascend”), the leading provider of market intelligence and analytics solutions for the energy transition, today announced the launch of PowerVAL, its next generation product for providing developers, investors and utilities with energy project valuation across all generation assets and geographies.

Originally published in T&D World | 23 January, 2025

When creating economic policy, the ideal outcome is a win-win. More often, however, where there are winners there are also losers. For the incoming Trump administration and power markets, we see many tradeoffs with emerging winners and losers.

Ascend Analytics (“Ascend”), the leading provider of market intelligence and analytics solutions for the energy transition, today announced that it has launched a sales process on behalf of ESA Solar Energy, LLC (“ESA Solar”) for its MISO battery energy storage system (BESS) portfolio.

Ascend Analytics (“Ascend”), the leading provider of market intelligence and analytics solutions for the energy transition, today announced the publication of its inaugural Energy Transition Predictions. At a time of historic political transition in the United States, Ascend’s dynamic modeling DNA serves as an objective guide for power market participants navigating heightened macro uncertainty.

Republished from Voltility, by Andrew Cavenagh: Aurelian Capital Partners, a private equity firm that invests in land and alternative real assets which facilitate the energy transition, has launched a platform to provide cost-effective financing for 100% merchant or partially contracted battery storage projects that cannot access efficient bank debt.

Ascend Analytics (“Ascend”), the leading provider of market intelligence and analytics solutions for the energy transition, today announced that it has expanded its coverage to provide its proprietary power market forecasts and strategic investment guidance to clients working and investing in Great Britain and the Netherlands.

In a recent USEA Power Sector Podcast, Ascend Analytics CEO, Dr. Gary Dorris, discusses Ascend's Opportunity Cost Modeling approach as an advanced form of Production Cost Modeling. Dr. Dorris also shares the the limitations of legacy models and the effect of "model limited choice" to fairly value energy portfolios.

Republished from Utility Dive, by Emma Penrod: Project delays, tariffs and a new round of supply shortages pushed renewable energy prices higher in the third quarter of 2024. Projections by energy software and consulting firm Ascend Analytics indicate the upward trend is likely to continue, with PPA prices potentially easing in the 2030s.

Republished from Voltility, by Andrew Cavenagh: The proliferation of renewable sources of generation is fundamentally changing the drivers of pricing in US power markets and energy storage developers need to adapt quickly to these new realities when evaluating their project economics, specialist consulting and software firm Ascend Analytics cautioned last month.

Los Angeles, California, October 3, 2024: Clean Power Alliance of Southern California (CPA), the fourth largest electricity provider and largest Community Choice Aggregator in California, announces a request for offers to meet its energy portfolio needs and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Procurement Orders and Resource Adequacy requirements.

Ascend Analytics is the leading provider of market intelligence and analytics solutions for the energy transition. The company’s offerings enable decision-makers in power development and supply procurement to maximize the value of planning, operating, and managing risk for renewable, storage, and other assets.

Renewables development is accelerating to meet increasing US load growth and investors are recycling assets to obtain capital to reinvest in greenfield projects. Rahm Orenstein, Managing Director of Ascend Energy Exchange (Ascend AEX) explains how the nascent M&A advisory wing of Ascend Analytics, is vetting those projects with a buyer's eye while connecting undercapitalized developers with resources to scale.

‍BOULDER, Colorado, September 4, 2024: Ascend Analytics (“Ascend”), the leading provider of market intelligence and analytics solutions for the energy transition, today announced the publication of its new ERCOT Market Forecast, the most recent release in its series of comprehensive analyses of changes in price volatility, curtailment, real-time market dynamics, and ancillary services across key energy markets in the United States and Europe.

By Onofrio Castiglia and Andrew Vitelli

Renewable energy investors are increasingly coming across a handful of sellside M&A advisors that are at once new and familiar. Onofrio Castiglia and Andrew Vitelli examine how some technical advisory firms have been expanding their offerings.

BOULDER, Colorado, July 18, 2024: Ascend Analytics (“Ascend”), a leading provider of energy transition analytics solutions, announces its flagship ERCOT Market Forecast and Report 5.1, the latest release from its proprietary Ascend Market Intelligence (“AscendMI™”) solution. Designed to support developers and financiers manage investment risks resulting from new market dynamics, the ERCOT Market Forecast and Report 5.1 explores how Texas will continue to experience more net load changes and demand imbalances.

BOULDER, Colorado, June 25, 2024: Ascend Analytics (“Ascend”), a leading provider of energy transition analytics solutions, announced on behalf of Belltown Power (“Belltown”) that the company is commencing a sales process for its North ERCOT BESS Project Portfolio. The portfolio which comprises five battery energy storage systems (BESS), totaling 850 MW of capacity, is located in the ERCOT North region of Texas. The projects are in an advanced development stage, targeting in-service dates of late 2026 or early 2027.

BOULDER, Colorado, June 21, 2024: Ascend releases its Western Energy Imbalance (WECC-EIM) 4.2 Forecast and Report. As clean energy goals and capacity needs continue to intensify across the western states, Ascend Market Intelligence provides an in-depth overview of sub-regional and state dynamics.

Los Angeles, California, June 11, 2024: Clean Power Alliance of Southern California (CPA), the fourth largest electricity provider and largest Community Choice Aggregator in California, announces a request for offers to meet its energy portfolio needs and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Procurement Orders and Resource Adequacy requirements.

BOULDER, Colorado, June 6, 2024: Ascend Analytics announces its latest release of the industry-leading asset valuation platform, BatterySIMM.

BOULDER, Colorado, June 5, 2024: Ascend Analytics expands its market intelligence into European markets with the release of its Netherlands Market Forecast and Report. This forecast supports developers and financiers expanding into the Netherlands with an in-depth analysis of the power market and an outlook of the region’s changing grid conditions.

TURLOCK, California, June 4, 2024: Turlock Irrigation District (TID), a publicly owned irrigation district, announces a request for proposals to meet its California Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and reliability goals.

BOULDER, Colorado, May 22, 2024: Ascend Analytics Market Intelligence Forecasts analyze the key drivers of the energy transition and provide customers with optimal asset performance in the short and long term. NYISO Market Forecast Report 4.2 highlights that while New York has set aggressive climate policies for 2040, the ISO faces a fundamental shift in supply motivated by increasing renewables, thermal retirements, and an electrification-induced increased load.  

BOULDER, Colorado, May 16, 2024: Ascend Analytics announces the release of its CAISO Market Forecast and Report 5.1.

BOULDER, Colorado, May 9, 2024: Ascend Analytics announces the release of its Great Britain Market Report. As Ascend applies its North American market leadership abroad, this new product supports developers and financiers expanding into Great Britain with an in-depth analysis of the power market and an outlook of the region’s changing grid conditions.

Ascend Analytics Market Intelligence (Ascend MI) announces its 4.2 release of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Market Report and Price Forecast.

The California Independent System Operator had an unusual year in 2023, with conditions and market fundamentals shifting as load keeps growing and state mandates for load-serving entities to procure more renewables continue to be hampered by increased costs and significant interconnection delays.

Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), a community choice aggregator (CCA) in CAISO, announces a request for proposals to meet its Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and reliability goals.

Former Ormat Technologies executive and former CEO of Sunflower Sustainable Investments Ram (Rahm) Orenstein joins Ascend Analytics as Managing Director of its Ascend Energy Exchange™ (AEX).

Ascend Analytics (“Ascend”), a leading provider of energy transition analytics solutions, has secured a strategic growth investment led by  Rubicon Technology Partners  ("Rubicon"), a private equity firm which is focused exclusively on investing in and growing software companies. Rubicon is joined by climate investment firm  Galvanize Climate Solutions, which invests in companies and solutions advancing the energy transition, and  Silversmith Capital Partners, a technology focused growth equity firm.

Energy transition software and consulting business Ascend Analytics has closed a second insurance deal that guarantees a minimum level of revenue for energy storage projects in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market.

USQRisk, LLC (“USQ”), the international managing general agent specializing in alternative risk transfer solutions, and Ascend Analytics, LLC (“Ascend”), an industry-leading energy software and consulting firm, announce the launch of an innovative solution to provide more efficient financing for utility-scale energy storage projects.  

Solar power purchase agreement prices rose on average 3% in the final three months of 2023 but overall PPA prices will likely remain on a long-term, downward trend, according to Ascend Analytics. Read the fully story published in Utility Dive.

A combination of more renewable energy resources, coal-fired power plant retirements, and continuing load growth in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) market should offer strong opportunities for energy storage developers over the next two years and beyond.

A prominent Northern California CCA has selected the Ascend Analytics SmartBidder™ platform to optimize live bidding strategies for its fully operational Daggett 3 Solar+Storage Project near Daggett, California.

New Energy Risk (“NER”) and Ascend Analytics, LLC (“Ascend”) have announced the closing of an industry-first energy storage insurance policy providing coverage for the performance of Ascend’s battery storage forecasting and bidding optimization platform.

Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County, Washington (Grant PUD) announces an All-Source Request for Proposals (RFP) to supply up to 300 MW of firm capacity and energy. This solicitation is intended to help Grant PUD prepare for future challenges including customer load growth, clean energy goals, resource adequacy, and future participation in the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP).  

Wellhead Energy, LLC (Wellhead) selected the Ascend Analytics SmartBidder™ platform to optimize live bidding operations for the Stanton Battery Energy Storage (SBES) project, a 68.8 MW / 275.2 MWh battery located in Stanton, California.

The vast number of energy storage projects now citing in grid operators’ interconnection queues across North America is radically changing the balance of supply and demand, as well as valuations for M &A transactions in the sector.

A recent case study from the American Public Power Association cited Ascend Analytics' PowerSIMM™ energy analytics platform as a primary driver of success for the Lansing Board of Water and Light's (LBWL) 2023 integrated resource plan (IRP).

Mature projects with quality siting are realizing a market premium, despite an oversubscribed interconnection queue, according to Ascend Analytics and reported by Utility Dive.

A chronic logjam in California Independent System Operator(CAISO) interconnection queue and continuing supply chain problems will create a challenge for California to meet a lot of its medium-term targets for clean energy deployment - and will also distort the state's power market operations in the meantime - according to the latest assessment from specialist advisory firm Ascend Analytics.

A growing number of solar-plus-storage developers are exploring hedge contracts as alternatives to power purchase agreements for their projects, as it becomes evident that such over-the-counter trades can provide significantly better early-year returns than traditional longer term off take arrangements.

The six states in New England constitute attractive opportunities to develop clean energy and energy storage facilities in the long term, despite the certainty that such projects will not be economic undertakings without substantial subsidies until at least 2028 or 2029.

View differing viewpoints as Texas utility regulators prepare to vote on whether to recommend the state adopt a controversial Performance Credit Mechanism designed to ensure grid reliability during periods of low non-dispatchable power.

In this article, shorter duration energy storage systems are highlighted as a way to resolve and enable ERCOT to match supply with growing demand for electricity, presenting an economic opportunity for energy storage.

Ascend's EnSurance team has developed several mechanisms to guarantee revenues for merchant storage projects. With additional EnSurance products in the works, Ascend expects to secure such arrangements for three GW of storage by the end of 2022.

Results of recent request for offers (RFOs) in California show small increases in prices, however, larger increases are forecasted to follow, growing the gap between the demand for & ability to deliver renewable and storage projects in California. The primary driver of increasing prices is supply chain bottlenecks, including the exploding global demand for key minerals.

Millar suggests battery technologies using low-cost materials such as iron, zinc & sodium could soon win off-taker RFOs. Meanwhile, expect PPA prices or renewables and storage to soar in California.

A pair of reports by independent consultants both conclude that the Nebraska Public Power District could eliminate most of its carbon emissions without having to spend significantly more than it would otherwise for power.

Ascend Analytics is pleased to announce new contracts with three California Community Choice Aggregators(CCAs) for support and valuation of their 2020 Clean Energy RFOs. Ascend will be offering energy resource procurement administration and valuation services to Clean Power Alliance (CPA) as well as Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) in partnership with San Jose Clean Energy (SJCE). CPA decided to work with Ascend again following our successful administration of their 2019 Clean Energy and Reliability RFOs.