Day-ahead power prices in the UK market climbed up Wednesday on the back of rising spot gas prices and lower wind forecasts.
The baseload day-ahead power price rose 5% to GBP45.65/MWh before midday trade on Wednesday, adding GBP2.15 in value, while the peakload power for Thursday delivery moved higher by GBP2 to GBP51/MWh.
The UK's base day-ahead auction outturned below the OTC price at GBP44.74/MWh on the N2EX and APX exchanges on Wednesday.
Power prices on the prompt edged higher despite stable demand and small gains on the NBP gas market as wind power generation is expected to drop by nearly 2 GW on Thursday.
According to National Grid data, wind output on Thursday is expected to drop to 3.9 GW, down from Wednesday's peak wind forecast of 5.8 GW.
Peak demand was forecast to reach 45.5 GW on Thursday, slightly below peak demand forecast of 45.7 GW for Wednesday.
On the supply side, wind power grabbed a higher market share than nuclear at midday Wednesday at 4.8 GW, representing 12.1% of the UK's total energy mix, while nuclear stood at 4.5 GW, the grid data showed.
The more expensive gas-fired power generation accounted for more than 31% of the fuel mix in the UK at midday at 12.5 GW, rising above 9 GW seen around the same time on Tuesday, but was lower than coal plants, which produced 14 GW of electricity.
Solar contributed 312 MW of power to the grid, while hydro power stood at a healthy 750 MW or 1.9% at midday.
Electricity exports from France and the Netherlands were around similar levels at 972 MW and 988 MW, down from nearly 2 GW usually routed to the UK grid.
On the gas hub, the NBP within-day and day-ahead contracts rose to 51.50 pence/therm and 51.25 p/th at 11:00 am in the UK.
