Market update – April 2022

Market Update – April 2022

Watch the full update here

The price of coal continued to rise throughout April, as the global energy crunch sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to be felt. 

Spot market

Rising coal prices, combined with a large volume of unit outages throughout the month, led to extremely high spot market prices in Queensland (up $72.56 to $219.76), New South Wales (up $86.18 to $186.86) and Victoria (up $86.73 to $141.51). 

Contract market

The high cost of coal and the large volume of unit outages has also been felt in the contract market, with prices continuing to rise in Queensland (up $13.15 to $121) and Victoria (up $15.80 to $76.60) for Cal 23.

The same price trends have followed through to Cal 25 contracts, where prices for Queensland and New South Wales contracts remain high. The New South Wales contracts have dropped off somewhat after their massive rally in March (down $15.95 to $104.05), but still remain significantly higher than the $91 they were trading at in February. 

However, little volume is trading in the Cal 25 contracts, meaning that price discovery is still occurring.

Environmental market

In the environmental market, it was a quiet month for Large-Scale Generation Certificates (LGCs), with little volatility.

Small-scale technology certificates (STCs) continued to trade very close to the penalty rate. Many buyers chose to use the STC Clearing House – where STCs sell at a fixed price of $40 – to finalise their liabilities for the first quarter of the year, resulting in a deficit of 2.6 million STCs by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the price of Australian Carbon Credit Units, or (ACCUs), has stabilised at around $30, after the changes to the Emissions Reduction  Fund that led to a sudden increase in supply and a sharp drop in price in March.

And that’s it for our April market wrap up… wishing you all the best for May from the team at Stanwell Energy!