Merit Order Explorer

ERCOT merit-order supply curve colored by fuel type. Unit capacity reflects maximum HSL; default contribution factors from ERCOT's estimated contribution at the hour with highest reserve shortage risk (MORA).

powered by distill
Distill

Find Unit

Offer Source

TPO preferred: uses Three-Part Offer when available, falls back to SCED. TPO only: excludes units without a TPO. SCED only: shows SCED offers for all units.

Aggregation

Median is more robust for units with skewed bids (e.g. batteries). Average includes the full range of outlier offers.

Demand (MW)

Tip: drag the red line on the chart to adjust.
Marginal price: —

Expected Capacity Contribution

% of installed capacity at the hour with highest reserve shortage risk (ERCOT MORA, June 2026)

Bid Adjust ($/MWh)

Avg offer prices based on historical SCED disclosure data

Unit Bid Curve

About Merit Order Explorer

What is this?

Merit Order Explorer visualizes ERCOT's merit-order supply curve using 60-day SCED (Security Constrained Economic Dispatch) disclosure data. Each dot represents a generation resource positioned by its cumulative capacity (MW) and offer price ($/MWh), colored by fuel type. (EIA reference)

The unit MW value represents the High Sustained Limit (HSL), derated by ERCOT's expected capacity contribution at the hour with highest reserve shortage risk. Bid prices default to the median Three-Part Offer (TPO) by unit, falling back to SCED offers where a TPO is not available.

How to use

  • Demand line — drag the red line on the chart or use the slider to set a demand level. The marginal price and marginal unit are shown in the sidebar.
  • Click a unit — opens a detail panel with the unit's TPO and SCED bid curves (with historical distribution) and HSL by hour. In areas where there are many units, it can sometimes be useful to use the chart zoom features to pinpoint a specific unit.
  • Find Unit — type a resource name in the search box on the sidebar menu for quick lookup.
  • Legend — click fuel types in the bottom legend bar to show/hide them on the curve.
  • Expected Capacity Contribution — scales each fuel type's HSL to reflect expected availability at the hour with highest reserve shortage risk, per the ERCOT MORA report. This can be changed in the advanced settings of the sidebar menu.
  • Bid Adjust — shift a fuel type's offer prices up or down to model price scenarios. Averages shown are based on historical SCED disclosure data. This can be changed in the advanced settings of the sidebar menu.
  • Combined-cycle units — are grouped by plant. Individual train configurations can be viewed via the config selector in the unit detail panel.

Data sources

  • ERCOT 60-Day SCED Disclosure Report (offer prices, HSL, bid curves — aggregated across multiple disclosure periods)
  • ERCOT MORA Report (expected capacity contribution defaults)
  • EIA — Merit Order of Electricity Generation (reference)

Disclaimer & Terms of Use

This tool is provided free of charge by Distill Energy for informational and educational purposes. You are free to use and reproduce this tool and its outputs. However, Distill Energy provides this tool "as is" without warranty of any kind, express or implied, and disclaims all liability for any damages, losses, or decisions arising from its use or its results.

Offer prices and HSL capacities are shown as reported in ERCOT's 60-day SCED disclosure aggregated over multiple months. The supply curve is a static snapshot and does not represent real-time grid conditions, actual dispatch, or market clearing. Merit-order dispatch does not consider congestion, grid constraints or fixed unit costs. Storage units are particularly difficult to represent within merit-order curves, as they do not operate like traditional generation resources and have historically participated predominantly in ancillary service markets. Probabilistic distributions shown in unit bid curves are based on historical averages and should not be relied upon as the sole basis for financial, operational, or investment decisions.