German day-ahead power prices plunged Tuesday as wind power was forecast near record levels above 30 GW with the first five hours settling below zero on the spot exchange.
Baseload power for day-ahead delivery was last heard OTC Eur10.60 lower at Eur22.90/MWh, while peakload fell Eur7.25 to Eur32.15/MWh.
Epex Spot settled Wednesday below OTC at Eur20.44/MWh baseload and Eur31.60/MWh peakload, a day-on-day drop of 36% on the exchange.
Wind power output was forecast to rise sharply from around 18 GW for Tuesday's average baseload hours to above 30 GW Wednesday, with peaks forecast between 32 GW and 35 GW, which would be a new all-time high, according to sources.
The latest weather runs show a slight easing of wind late Wednesday afternoon, which lifted the hourly price for hour 18 above Eur50/MWh on the exchange -- the highest so far this week -- but there could be a second wave of wind peaking again above 30 GW early Thursday, before a sharp drop into Friday and below-average levels at the weekend, according to spotrenewables' seven-day outlook.
Further out, week-ahead baseload shed Eur1.15 to Eur36.75/MWh, still more than 20% above this week's closing price on Friday, as the cold snap this weekend is now less likely to extend deep into next week, a trader said.
Although temperatures and wind power output were set to remain just below average levels, the trader said.
Germany's installed wind power capacity is estimated above 44 GW, with at least 5 GW of new capacity added over the past 12 months, of which more than 2 GW is in the German North Sea, Platts Renewable Power Tracker showed.
Conventional plant availability from nuclear, lignite and hard-coal plants was pegged 1.5 GW higher on the day at 43.2 GW Wednesday, data from EEX transparency showed.
On the forward curve, December base fell back 60 euro cent to Eur30.15/MWh after rising more than Eur1 Monday amid a colder weather outlook.
Quarterly contracts also eased amid news that two Belgian nuclear reactors have been given the green light to restart before the end of the year.
Year-ahead baseload shed just 5 euro cent to Eur28.75/MWh as a weaker euro, which dropped to a new 7-month-low below $1.07, offset slight losses for EUA carbon allowances.
