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UK POWER: Prompt prices plummet as wind gains momentum

https://www.chemnet.com   Mar 30,2015 Platts
UK power prices for day-ahead contracts slumped Friday on forecasts for strong wind power generation, while peak power demand eased lower to levels usually seen during the start of the summer period.

Baseload power for Monday delivery was last seen trading at GBP39.05/MWh before the Platts 11 am London time close, down GBP3.45 to reach a two-month low. The day-ahead contract was last below Friday's level on January 23 at GBP38/MWh, according to Platts data.

The Monday peakload power price dropped GBP2.25 to close at GBP43.50/MWh.

According to National Grid, peak power demand was forecast to drop to 40 GW Saturday, down from the 45.3 GW projected for Friday.

For Monday, peak power demand was expected to reach around 41 GW.

In addition to weakening power demand, supply remained healthy with wind power generation expected to hit 7.1 GW Saturday and remain strong at around these levels early next week, sources said.

At midday, wind output stood at 1.5 GW, or less than 4% of total supply mix, down from 5.1 GW at midday Thursday, the grid data showed.

Gas-fired power plants contributed 14 GW of power to the grid at midday, accounting for 35.4% of the UK's fuel mix, while coal plants produced 13.7 GW, or 34.5%.

Dutch and French imports were on fairly similar levels of 996 MW and 998 MW at midday, both representing 2.5% each of the generation mix.
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