Spot prices plunge as German wind floods supply
European power prices dropped sharply on Wednesday, as forecasts of a doubled German wind generation in the next day's time outweighed slight increases in demand. Also, French nuclear availability was tighter.
"Wind energy production is increasing not only in Germany, but also throughout the Central West Europe region, reducing significantly the residual load average," said LSEG Analyst Naser Hashemi. He was referring to the low demand for thermal energy output.
LSEG data shows that the French baseload price for the next day was 16 euros (18.66 dollars) per megawatt-hour (MWh) as of 0845 GMT. This is a 76.8% decrease from the previous closing.
German day-ahead fell by 35.3% to 79.0 Euros/MWh.
LSEG data shows that Germany's output of wind power rose to 35.7 gigawatts on Thursday from 18.2 GW on Wednesday. France's output is expected to increase by 12 GW, bringing it up 17.9 GW.
The availability of French nuclear reactors dropped 2 percentage points over night, to 77% installed capacity.
In the two-day period, power demand in Germany was expected to increase by 100 MW to 57.2 GW. In France, it was expected to grow by 600 MW to 47.0 GW.
German Met Office DWD said that cool autumn weather would continue until the weekend with gusty winds and rain and temperatures as high as 6 to 14 degrees Celsius.
The German baseload for the year ahead was not traded after it settled at 87.8 Euros/MWh. Similarly, the French equivalent position was also not traded after it settled at 56.5 Euros/MWh.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon CFI2Zc1 market fell by 0.6%, to 79.12 Euros per metric ton.
In other macroeconomic statistics, China overtook America as Germany's biggest trading partner in the eight-month period of 2025 as higher tariffs affected German exports to the U.S. (1 euro = 0.8575 euros). (Reporting and editing by Ronojoy Zaumdar.
(source: Reuters)
