Czech day-ahead power tumbled on Thursday as wind generation in the region rose and demand fell due to a holiday in France and lower consumption ahead of the weekend, traders said.
Electricity for Friday delivery fell to 52.35 euros ($71.12) per megawatt hour in the over-the-counter market from 55.40 euros a day ago, representing a spread of about 35 cents below neighbouring Germany.
Czech market operator OTE cleared day ahead nearly 6 percent lower at 53.10 euros as data from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon showed wind generation in Germany would rise nearly 3 GW to 7.2 GW.
“Wind power is going above normal levels tomorrow, leading to a significant increase compared with today for the first half of the day,” Point Carbon analysts said in a daily report.
“Solar power in Germany is also reacting to the clear skies, and will almost hit 10 GW in the highest hours tomorrow. This is quite high for this time of the year.” Further along the curve, the front month gained almost 1 percent to 56.60 euros while Cal ’12 baseload closed 5 cents higher at 53.75 euros on the Prague-based Power Exchange Central Europe.
“The Cal is flat,” one trader said. “There isn’t much trading going on. Around the region, the benchmark German Cal ’12 contract was down 6 cents to 55.35 euros on Germany’s EEX in late afternoon trading.
Czech utility CEZ said its 456-MW unit 1 at Dukovany nuclear power plant was in start-up mode on Thursday ahead of plans to connect the block to the grid at the weekend following a 78-day scheduled refuelling. Hungarian oil group MOL plans to build a large gas-fired power plant at the Bratislava location of its Slovak subsidiary Slovnaft sometime after it completes a similar plant in Hungary.
In Serbia grid operator Elektromreza Srbije (EMS) on Thursday published the results of its monthly auction for cross-border capacity with Hungary in December in which 19 firms took part.
Day ahead on Hungary’s HUPX exchange rose 2.39 euros to 66.19 euros, above the over-the-counter price of 61 euros.
Poland’s POLPX cleared day ahead lower at 211.41 zlotys ($65.32), down from 223.87 a day earlier.Brent and U.S. crude futures initially extended gains on Thursday after data showed jobless claims fell last week in the United States and the country’s trade narrowed in September.
EUAs for December delivery, the bellwether carbon contract, were down 6 cents to 9.83 euros a tonne at 1408 GMT.
Source: reuters
