German day-ahead power prices Wednesday rose to their highest level since early March as a lull in wind power output tightened supply, sources said.
Baseload power for day-ahead delivery was last heard OTC Eur4.25 higher at Eur46.50/MWh with day-ahead peakload closing Eur4.25 higher on the day at Eur55.25/MWh.
Epex Spot settled Thursday above OTC at Eur47.03/MWh baseload and Eur55.88/MWh peakload with a more balanced hourly profile than in the previous session and hour 19 again highest at Eur64.10/MWh, down 1% from the same hour Wednesday.
Wind power generation was forecast to drop to just 1 GW for Thursday's average baseload hours with solar output falling to just 2 GW for average peakload hours, according to market sources.
Germany's installed wind and solar portfolio now stands near 75 GW. Last October, wind output averaged 7.3 GW for baseload hours, while solar still averaged 5.1 GW for peakload hours.
Nuclear availability remained at the full 12 GW capacity, with all nine German reactors online, according to plant operators' data.
On the near curve, November base recovered another 40 euro cent to Eur35.35/MWh with temperatures set to fall back to seasonal norms for the first week of November.
Further out, Cal 15 base added just 5 euro cent to Eur34.30/MWh.
