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Utilizing Historic LMP Data in Paces

How to access, interpret, and use LMP pricing data in Paces for site selection, insights, and development decisions

Katherine Olecki avatar
Written by Katherine Olecki
Updated over 2 weeks ago

Introduction

Locational Marginal Prices (LMPs) represent the price of electricity at a specific grid node. LMP data shows how much energy costs at a specific location and how prices shift over time. In Paces, LMP data is displayed in $/MWh and demonstrates this pricing at each substation.

💡 While we know not every ISO pricing node is physically located at a sub, subs are the most practical reference point for development decisions. Paces maps each LMP value to the nearest sub so you can understand pricing behavior at the grid locations that matter most for siting, interconnection, and capacity analysis.

Paces provides historical Day Ahead and Real Time LMP data for all ISOs that participate in wholesale markets.

This article explains how to access LMP data in Paces and how to use it effectively in Search, Insights, and Map workflows.

LMP Data in Paces

Day Ahead (DA)

  • A historical archive of the ISO’s predicted prices for the following day. This reflects how the ISO expected supply, demand, and congestion to behave.

Real Time (RT)

  • A historical archive of the actual prices cleared in the moment — often updated every 5 minutes by the ISO.

💡 Neither LMP dataset contains forecasts or future predictions. Both are strictly historical signals.

LMP Access & Availability

Each ISO (PJM, ERCOT, MISO, NYISO, ISO-NE, CAISO) has its own dataset.

How to Enable LMP Data in Paces

  1. Open the Data Portal.

  2. Search for the ISO you want (e.g., PJM, MISO, ERCOT).

    1. Note: You will not find non-wholesale ISOs.

  3. Toggle visibility on for the dataset(s).

  4. Click Save.

Once enabled, LMP data can be used in:

  • Search workflows

  • Compact View insights

  • Map View regional comparisons

How to Use LMP Data in Paces

LMP data can support different decisions depending on your development type.

🗺️ Map View: Compare Nodes Across Regions

With LMP datasets visible, you can:

  • Visualize price differences across an ISO

  • Spot clusters of high-value or low-cost nodes

  • Compare DA vs RT behavior at a glance

  • Identify “hidden pockets” of volatility that support storage

Map View is especially helpful in early-stage scoping when you’re trying to understand which regions deserve attention.

🔎 Search: Find Sites That Match Your Pricing Strategy

Using Search filters and LMP-enabled insights, you can:

  • Identify nodes with high, stable pricing.

  • Locate regions with low, predictable pricing.

  • Target areas with large price spreads.

You can filter for LMP criteria such as:

  • Last 1-year average, median

  • Last 5-year average, median

  • Max and min values (DA only)

These metrics help you quickly narrow large geographies to nodes that match your business model.

📊 Generating Insights: Evaluate Existing Sites Quickly

After uploading or adding sites to a list, you can use Generate Insights to pull in LMP metrics for each location.

This helps you answer questions like:

  • Does this site sit at a historically valuable node?

  • Is the price trend rising or declining?

  • Is the volatility profile compatible with my strategy?

  • Should I prioritize this site for deeper diligence?

This step prevents wasted time evaluating sites that don’t meet your pricing thresholds.

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