UK day-ahead power prices declined for the second consecutive day Thursday on forecasts of higher wind power generation and falling power demand ahead of the weekend, sources said.

Baseload power for Friday delivery was last heard trading at GBP31.85/MWh, shedding GBP1.10 on the day, while the peakload counterpart also posted similar losses to close GBP1.40 lower from Wednesday at GBP35.60/MWh before Platts 11am London time close.

The UK base day-ahead auction outturned largely in line with the OTC market, settling at GBP31.75/MWh on the N2EX and APX exchanges Thursday.

Peak power demand is expected to fall to 46.3 GW on Friday, compared with Thursday's forecast of 47.3 GW, which was revised lower from Wednesday when it was predicted to hit a high of 48.4 GW, National Grid data showed.

On Wednesday, actual power demand reached a maximum of 48.6 GW, missing initial estimates of 49.1 GW, the network operator said.

Furthermore, peak wind power generation is set to surge to 6.5 GW Friday morning, higher than Thursday's wind expectations of 5 GW, the grid said.

At the time of writing, wind generation outturned at 2.8 GW, missing initial estimates by more than half, grid data showed.

Reduced output from UK wind farms spurred an increase in gas-fired power production, which reached 17.6 GW, accounting for more than 43% of the energy mix at midday.

Coal plants generated 6.7 GW of power, representing 16.5% of the UK mix, whereas nuclear power supply remained steady at 7.3 GW, or 18%, the grid said.

Bearish sentiment also filtered through from the spot gas market, which eased on the back of ample supply.

At 11 am London time, the NBP within-day and day-ahead contracts changed hands at 29.10 pence/therm, down from a day-ahead assessment of 29.45 p/th Wednesday.

 

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