Spot prices rise on forecasts of reduced wind supply
The price of European immediate power rose on Wednesday, as the wind power generation in the region is expected to drop sharply. This will lead to a tightening of supply.
LSEG analyst Guomarie Wyller forecasts a halving in Germany's wind energy production. She also noted that the higher German solar output will counterbalance this bullish factor.
The French baseload power contract for Thursday rose by 54.5% to 47.5 euros ($51.24), while the German day-ahead power contract remained untraded at 66.6 euro, with a price of 79.0 euro.
LSEG data indicated that the German wind output is expected to drop to 13.3 gigawatts on Thursday, from 24.2 GW Wednesday. France's wind output will also fall by 4.4 GW for a total of 8.3 GW.
The power consumption in Germany is expected to drop by 500 MW, to 55.6 GW. In France, the demand was predicted to fall to 48.0 GW compared to 50.6 GW.
The French nuclear capacity remained unchanged at 73%.
The German baseload year-ahead power contract fell 0.3% to just below 87.0 euros/MWh. Its French counterpart was not traded after closing at 63.8 euro.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets was down 0.3% at 69.66 Euros per metric ton.
The Rhine River in Germany is an important shipping route for commodities, but low water levels following dry weather in March prevent cargo ships from being fully loaded. Improvements are not in sight.
Analysts and data suggest that Europe could need to purchase up to 250 additional LNG cargos in order to replenish its gas reserves ahead of the winter. This would cost at least $11billion. ($1 = 0.9270 euros) (Reporting and editing by Rashmi aich; Vera Eckert)
(source: Reuters)
