Day-ahead power prices in Germany Monday were lower on the day as an expected downturn in wind generation supported prices, while the core year-ahead contract continued to slide on bearish underlying markets.
At Platts 1100 GMT close, baseload and peakload power contracts for delivery Tuesday were at Eur31.85/MWh and Eur37.75/MWh respectively, up Eur1.85 and Eur1.25 on the day.
Epex spot closed the Tuesday power auctions at Eur33.39/MWh for baseload and Eur39.09/MWh for peakload, both higher than the last OTC trade.
Wind infeed forecasts are set to dip mid-week before rebounding towards the weekend, with generation expected around 5 GW lower at around 11.5 GW during baseload hours Tuesday, before dipping below 10 GW Wednesday, spotrenewables data shows.
Solar infeed is forecast to remain minute Tuesday, with around 1 GW expected during peakload hours, the data shows.
The downturn in wind forecasts is countered somewhat by an increase in available conventional generation capacity.
Hard-coal unit availability is forecast 800 MW higher on the day at 11.9 GW Tuesday, while lignite capacity will top 19 GW, close to 700 MW above Monday, EEX transparency data shows.
Nuclear capacity remains unchanged at 10.7 GW, with no changed forecast for the remainder of the month, the data shows.
Germany is forecast to remain in the midst of a cold snap Tuesday, with temperatures in Berlin 7 C below seasonal averages, while Hamburg will be 6 C colder than usual, according to the latest CustomWeather runs.
Southern Germany is expected to remain milder, with Frankfurt and Munich both 1 C warmer than the normal.
Looking ahead, baseload power for delivery next week was at Eur30.25/MWh, 75 euro cent above where the previous week-ahead contract expired Friday, while February base was at Eur29.50/MWh.
On the far curve, the Cal-17 contract shied 15 euro cent over the weekend to trade at Eur26.30/MWh, the lowest price for a year-ahead contract since May 2003, Platts pricing data shows.
