Record volumes of wind generation in Germany

Last week, the average day-ahead spot price in the Netherlands was 65.9 €/MWh. Prices were largely suppressed by significant amounts of wind generation. Week 5 was again a warm week, with the average temperature for most countries in Northwest Europe remaining well above the climate average. Prices dropped sharply, especially over the weekend: the Dutch spot price was 49 €/MWh on Saturday and 30 €/MWh on Sunday. Germany experienced the sharpest drop on Sunday, with the baseload averaging 15 €/MWh. The installed capacity of wind energy in Germany is large and still growing, causing German power prices to plummet in times of high wind and low demand. The German branch of TenneT announced at the beginning of the week that the increase in onshore wind capacity is increasingly resulting in the curtailment of offshore wind power.
The gas price has been mostly trading below 30 €/MWh for a few weeks now. However, TTF briefly moved back towards this level. By the end of the week, most gas contracts had become almost a euro more expensive. For example, March closed at 29.3 €/MWh and April at 29.5 €/MWh. CO2 only dropped by 20 eurocents compared to week 4. The contract barely moved but is still cheaper compared to the beginning of the year. Ultimately, the contract for December 2024 was 63.4 €/EUA.
Dutch power prices, like the gas price, rose again. March became almost 5 euros more expensive, closing at 69.7 €/MWh. April increased by 3 euros and closed at 63 €/MWh. The clean spark spreads for these months improved by 3 and 1.5 euros respectively. For now, the spark spreads for the coming months remain negative, especially in the summer. The spark spreads for March and April were -9 and -16 €/MWh, respectively.

he gas contract for delivery in 2025 increased by 70 eurocents, closing at 33.1 €/MWh. CO2 didn’t move much and settled at 65.6 €/EUA. The Dutch power contract for next year increased by one and a half euros and closed just below 80 €/MWh. The spark spread for next year improved by 30 eurocents and was -7 €/MWh.