Day-Ahead Rises on Steep Drop in Wind Power Supply

Expectations for a steep decline in wind-generated power pushed Czech and Slovak day-ahead prices up on Wednesday, while a plant outage kept spot prices in Hungary relatively high, traders said.

Electricity for Wednesday delivery soared by 13.15 euros to 40.65 euros ($56.07) per megawatt-hour in the Czech Republic and by 10.15 euros to 41.75 euros in Slovakia in the over-the-counter market.

The day-ahead price in Hungary fell by 2.75 euros to 45.25 euros but was still the highest in the region as data from the grid operator showed an unplanned outage at a 232 megawatt unit of the Matra coal-fired power plant.

Renewable supply was forecast to fall sharply to just under 3 gigawatts for Thursday in Germany from above 13 GW a day earlier, according to Thomson Reuters Point Carbon data. Solar output was pegged to remain around 3.8 GW.

Further along the curve, the Czech front month fell 20 cents to 29.15 euros, and Hungarian electricity for May delivery declined 10 cents to 38.05 euros.

On the Prague-based Power Exchange Central Europe, the Czech Cal '15 rose 5 cents to 33.20 euros, and the Hungarian front year fell 10 cents to 42.65 euros.

Around the region, the benchmark German Cal '15 contract held steady at 34 euros on EEX in afternoon trading. Day-ahead on Poland's POLPX exchange rose to 191.64 zlotys ($63.42) from 172.10 zlotys.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said the country was ready to take steps to enable reverse gas flows to Ukraine if its eastern neighbour meets financial obligations and contracts on Russian gas supplies to Slovakia.

Romania will link its day-ahead electricity market with those in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary starting on Nov. 11 as part of a plan to improve supplies and make retail prices more stable, the Czech market operator said.

The Germany-based Central Allocation Office GmbH has published results of its monthly capacity auction to transmit electricity across borders in the CEE region in May.

Brent crude rose towards $108 a barrel as rising tension between Russia and Ukraine overshadowed the bearish impact of a steep rise in crude oil stockpiles in the United States.

EU carbon futures gained more than 2 percent to 5.02 euros a tonne.

($1 = 0.7249 Euros) ($1 = 3.0216 Polish Zlotys)

(Reporting by Michael Kahn; editing by Jane Baird)