High Winds Lower Europe Wholesale Electricity Prices

GERMANY: March 13, 2008

FRANKFURT - Powerful winter storms sweeping across Europe have boosted wind power, oversupplying the wholesale market for electricity and driving down prices for day ahead delivered power by some 12 percent since Friday.

Even though road, rail and ship travel has been disrupted and insurers facing claims from damage brought by high winds, operators of wind turbines have been able to generate and sell more supply of the renewable energy into the power network.

"The additional wind supply has cut spot prices this week," said a northern German power trader. "It remains volatile, my information is that the massive wind input will peak tomorrow and go down by Thursday night."

Traders buying and selling round-the-clock power on Wednesday reported the day ahead price in central Europe's power market dropped to 49.5 euros ($76) per megawatt hour compared with 56 euros at the end of last week.

Weather statistics received by traders showed that some 18,000 megawatt of German wind power will be activated on Wednesday, an important, if short-lived, swing supply addition equal to about 25 large coal-burning power plants.

Traders expect the supply to peak at 20,000 MW on Thursday but by the evening it should have dropped to 12,000 MW.

Germany has over 22,000 MW of installed wind power capacity.

Professional power traders track weather forecasts carefully but the impact on end consumer bills is negligible.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert)

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE