December 23, 2024

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Slumping Wind Generation Prompts Emergency in Europe as Power Prices Surge

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Charles Kennedy

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Slumping Wind Generation Prompts Emergency in Europe as Power Prices Surge

Falling wind power generation has tightened power markets in Europe this week, with Wednesday electricity prices in Germany hitting their highest since the peak of the energy crisis in 2022.

Wind speeds in the UK and Germany have slumped this week in the so-called ‘Dunkelflaute’ period in which there is a lull in wind speeds. This has sent power prices in northwestern European countries surging and nations have had to rely more on fossil fuels such as natural gas to meet demand.

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The UK saw on Tuesday just 4% of its electricity demand in peak morning and evening hours met by wind power, while natural gas fired generation topped 60% of the power mix. The share of natural gas in the UK power generation jumped to the highest level in a year, since November 2023.

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Germany has also seen low wind speeds in recent days, and power prices for the peak hours on Wednesday surged to the highest level since the height of the energy crisis in 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Germany’s hourly power price for the peak hours on Wednesday surged to as much as $967 (900 euros) per megawatt hour (MWh). That was the highest hourly price level in Europe’s biggest economy since the end of the summer and early autumn of 2022.

East of Germany, in Poland, grid operator PSE triggered a so-called state of emergency on the power capacity market on Wednesday, Bloomberg reports.

Due to lower renewable energy generation, some European countries had to withdraw natural gas from storage, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. As of Monday, EU countries saw a net withdrawal from gas in storage sites which are 95% full now. The withdrawal from the EU inventory was the biggest since the beginning of this winter heating season, according to Bloomberg’s estimates.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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