Wind power surge cuts spot prices but frost-related demands lend support
The European prompt power price fell on Tuesday, ahead of a near-tripling of German wind power expected on Wednesday and a more-than-doubling of French wind energy volumes. However, the prices remained relatively high as icy weather?supported?demand.
The LSEG analyst Naser Hazemi wrote that "higher wind energy generation leads to a lower residual load on several markets, including Germany." He was referring to fewer thermal plant requirements.
He added that "demand is expected in many countries to increase".
LSEG data showed that French day-ahead basis load was down 10.4% to 107.5 euros per Megawatt hour by 0910 GMT.
The German equivalent price dropped by 14.9% to 101.8 Euro/MWh.
LSEG data shows that German wind power is expected to reach 30.0 Gigawatts by Wednesday, after 11.8 GW was expected on Tuesday. Meanwhile, French wind power should be 11.2 GW on Wednesday, up from 4.6 GW on Tuesday.
The power demand in Germany was 62.4 GW, an increase of 3.9 GW from the previous day. This is due to a return in industrial demand in certain regions following the New Year, and also a cold snap that has boosted electricity needs.
On Wednesday, France was expected to experience a decline in usage of?2.3 GW per day, despite a high 'demand' level of 83.4 GW. This is due to the country relying heavily on electric heating.
The German baseload year-ahead was up 1% to 83.0 Euro/MWh.
After its previous close of 48.8 Euros/MWh, the same French year-ahead positions was not traded.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon market increased by 0.3%, to 87.52 Euros per metric tonne.
In energy statistics, the energy regulator reported that the average German wholesale electricity prices for the day-ahead in the last year were 89.32 Euro per MWh. This represents a 13.8% rise over 2024.
The figures showed that Germany was a net importer of power in 2025. It imported 76.2 terawatt-hours, while exporting only 54.3 TWh. Vera Eckert, Jan Harvey (Editing)
(source: Reuters)
