How does solar help itself to your money while natural gas plants set the price of wholesale electricity? The dastardly secret is RGGI. Natural gas plants prices fall during the times of day that solar enters it's output to the grid. This is great for those who say solar causes a drop in wholesale electric prices, but there is more happening behind the scenes. RGGI is a tax on fossil fuel plants. This tax is attached to production costs of fossil fuel plants causing a rise in the wholesale price set by natural gas. This can add 30% to the wholesale price at an extra $9- $10 per megawatt hour. 

Whereas natural gas plants commonly set the wholesale price, other generation, such as solar, gains a windfall payment of $9 - $10 per megawatt hour. Without RGGI, wholesale prices would fall significantly, solar would not gain by attaching to the coattails of natural gas with the RGGI penalty.

Solar also receives Renewable Energy Credit payments at $40 plus per megawatt hour paid through the supply portion of retail electric bills. Natural gas does not receive any credit payments. 

Solar energy is very expensive due to elaborate schemes developed in the halls of government, while they blame the volatility of electricity prices on natural gas. The constant price hike caused by government schemes overwhelms any gas price deviations, which by definition of volatility goes down as well as up. These schemes make sure that gas plant prices stay up and add to the profit margin of solar. If these schemes stay in place, electric prices will continue to rise as RGGI taxes and Renewable Energy Credit prices rise, which is inevitable because the natural gas plants are being squeezed by rapidly declining caps on allowable carbon dioxide emissions and renewable energy credits are experiencing rapidly declining availability.