UK day-ahead power prices were mixed on Tuesday, moving in opposite directions for the second consecutive day this week, as healthy wind supply and weak NBP spot market offset bullish influence of rising demand.
At the Platts 1100 GMT, London time close, the day-ahead baseload contract was last heard trading at GBP38/MWh, down 25 pence on the day, whereas the Wednesday peakload contract was up 80 pence at GBP43/MWh.
On the N2EX and APX exchanges, the UK's base day-ahead power auction settled more than GBP1 higher than the OTC at GBP39.46/MWh on Tuesday.
According to National Grid, peak power demand is likely to rise to 49.4 GW on Wednesday, after dropping to 48.1 GW on the first day of December.
Actual peak power demand on Monday met initial estimates, touching 49.6 GW at 1700 GMT, the grid data showed.
On the supply side, peak wind power generation on Wednesday is expected to stay largely around Tuesday's forecast of 6.9 GW. However, surplus margins on Wednesday are likely to narrow to 9.9 GW, compared with 12 GW on Tuesday, the grid said.
At midday Tuesday, gas-fired power plants generated 11.8 GW of power, down from Monday levels of more than 15 GW, as wind power supply jumped by more than 2 GW on the day to 5.3 GW on Tuesday, the grid data showed.
At the same time, coal-fired power production reached 9.6 GW, while nuclear power generation remained fairly stable at 8.2 GW. French and Dutch imports were also mostly in line with Monday's at 1.5 GW and 990 MW, the grid said.
On the NBP gas hub, the within-day and day-ahead gas contracts fell to 38.20 pence/therm and 37.925 p/th respectively Tuesday morning, compared with Monday assessment of 38.55 p/th.
