PARIS: Spot power prices fell on Wednesday as wind generation was set to rise throughout the European region.

“German wind power output is forecasted to increase substantially from midnight to around noon, before decreasing from noon until midnight (Thursday),” Refinitiv analysts said.

Temperatures are expected to fall slightly tomorrow, but are still expected to remain above normal throughout the region, they added.

German baseload for day-ahead delivery fell 4.8% to 220 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 1043 GMT.

The equivalent French contract dropped 10.2% to 256 euros.

Power from German wind turbines is forecast to add 4.6 gigawatts (GW) to 16.5 GW, while that in France is seen adding 2.5 GW to 6.3 GW, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

French nuclear availability rose to 62% of installed capacity as 900 megawatts (MW) returned online. Three more reactors totalling 3.5 GW are expected to go offline for maintenance on March 19.

Power demand in Germany is seen edging up 120 MW on Wednesday at 60.7 GW, while consumption in France is projected to add 2.1 GW to 57.2 GW, the data showed.

Along the curve, the German front-year contract fell 2% to 158.75 euros/MWh, down with fuels.

The concerns about a substantial reduction in oil supply, which had prevailed until just a few days ago, appear to have evaporated, analysts at Commerzbank said.

However, If Brent crude oil’s massive upswing a week ago was exaggerated, so too is its slump now, they added.

Three million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian oil and products may not find their way to market beginning in April, the International Energy Agency said.

Norway is set to boost natural gas output and is expected to deliver bigger volumes to Europe, Equinor said.

The equivalent French contract dipped 1% to 197 euros/MWh.

European CO2 allowances for December 2022 expiry shed 0.2% to 77.25 euros a tonne.

Germany’s largest energy firm E.ON expects its core profit to fall this year due to the phase-out of nuclear power, and the war in Ukraine could hit the value of its stake in the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.

It also detailed hedge rates for the Isar 2 reactor and warned that industry consumers of energy raw materials would face cuts to their supplies first if importers banned Russian shipments due to the invasion of Ukraine.