Less Wind Lifts Czech and Slovak Spot, Colder Weather Looms

Declining wind generation levels lifted Czech and Slovak day ahead power on Tuesday as limited import capacity continued to keep southeastern spot prices at a large regional premium, traders said.

On regional exchanges, electricity for Wednesday rose 10 percent to 30.37 euros ($36) per megawatt-hour (MWh) in the Czech Republic and gained 15 percent to 31.75 euros in Slovakia, with traders saying cooler weather later in the week could further boost prices.

Data from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon showed forecasts for German wind generation to decline about 6 gigawatts to 16 gigawatts for Wednesday.

"Wind power is still above normal but it is going down," Point Carbon analysts said in a note.

Hungarian day ahead rose 2 percent to 48.69 euros as limits on import capacity and some maintenance work crimped supply, traders said. Romanian power for Wednesday gained 3 percent to 47.63 euros.

"Even a little bit of maintenance in Hungary can really send prices higher," one trader in the region said. "There are also limited imports from the Balkans."

Expectations for colder weather also drove Czech electricity for February nearly 4 percent higher to 35.55 euros while the Hungarian front month held steady at 44.50 euros.

Serbia's water levels are expected to remain flat through Jan. 20 after rising last week, the hydrometeorological service said in a weekly forecast.

Further along the curve, the Czech front year rose 5 cents to 31.50 euros while no contracts of the Hungarian Cal '16 were seen exchanging hands in the over-the-counter market.

Around the region, the benchmark German Cal '16 contract rose 35 cents to 31.90 euros in afternoon trade on Germany's EEX exchange.

Day ahead on Poland's POLPX exchange increased to 149.80 zlotys ($41) from 136.96 zlotys as bourse data showed planned and unplanned outages of the country's utilities holding steady at 4.2 gigawatts.

Crude oil prices hit their lowest in almost six years on Tuesday in a market readying for further falls, as big OPEC producer United Arab Emirates stood by the group's decision not to cut output to tackle a supply glut.

European carbon futures surged 5 percent to 7.15 euros a tonne in afternoon trading.

Reporting by Michael Kahn