Spot prices plunge on surge in wind supply

As wind power generation in Germany is expected to increase, the spot electricity price for Friday fell dramatically on Wednesday.

German baseload for the day ahead fell by 43.7%, to 75.50 Euros ($88.37), per megawatt-hour (MWh), at 0927 GMT.

The French baseload for the day ahead was down by 48.8%, at 10.25 Euros/MWh.

Analysts at Engie’s energy scan predict temperatures to remain below average until the end of this week. The strong ramp-up in wind power in Germany will continue to be high at least through the start of next week.

LSEG data indicated that German wind power production was projected to increase by 17.2 gigawatts, to 21 GW. French wind power is expected to rise by 4.4 GW, to 10.9 GW.

LSEG data shows that solar power production in Germany is expected to increase by 1.9 GW up to 12.1 GW.

The French nuclear capacity fell by one percentage point, to 79% after the Gravelines 3 Reactor went offline due to an unplanned shutdown.

Gravelines 3 went offline on Tuesday due to a malfunction at an outside electricity station, which caused the reactor to be disconnected from the network. This was confirmed by EDF, the operator.

EDF data show that France's electricity output dropped by 2.7 gigawatts in the early hours of Wednesday as workers reduced power output at four nucleo-power plants during an industrial action to protest "Block Everything".

LSEG data shows that the power demand in Germany is flat at 54.5 GW while French consumption has dropped by 480 megawatts, to 43.4 GW.

The German baseload for the year ahead increased by 0.5%, to 87.68 Euros/MWh. Baseload for France 2026 was up by 0.4% to 60.4 euros/MWh.

Benchmark European carbon permits fell 0.1% to 76.85 euro per metric tonne. $1 = 0.8543 Euros (Reporting and editing by Sharon Singleton; Forrest Crellin)

(source: Reuters)