German prompt power prices surge on low wind forecast

London (Platts)--7 Oct 2015 824 am EDT/1224 GMT

German prompt power posted strong gains for a second session Wednesday as lower wind infeed forecasts combined with ongoing reductions in nuclear capacity, pushing prices to a high not seen since late July.

At the Platts 11 am London time close, baseload power for Thursday delivery was heard trading at Eur46/MWh, Eur4.80 higher on the day to be up Eur11 over the past two sessions.

Strong gains were also seen on peakload power, with day-ahead up Eur5.15 to Eur54.25/MWh, 25 euro cent/MWh below late July's price surge.

Epex spot settled the day-ahead baseload and peakload auctions above OTC at Eur47.14/MWh and Eur55.92/MWh, respectively, with baseload power topping Eur70/MWh during hour 19.

Forecast wind infeed was set to fall further Thursday, down around 5 GW on the day to just above 2 GW, before picking up to more than 13 GW by Sunday, data from spotrenewables showed.

Peakload solar infeed was expected slightly lower on the day Thursday, just below 3 GW, the data showed.

Available nuclear capacity remains just above 8 GW Wednesday, EEX transparency data showed, while availability of both hard coal and lignite plants are down around 1 GW on the day to 12.7 GW and 18.5 GW, respectively.

Net exports via the FBMC system are set to reach 18.8 GW Thursday, up from below 2 GW Wednesday, data from CASC.EU showed.

Further ahead, November baseload power was trading at Eur33/MWh, 15 euro cent above Tuesday's closing price, while baseload power for delivery next year was seen at Eur29.50/MWh, up 15 euro cent during the morning session as the rebound from 12-year lows continued.

 

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