Dutch and British wholesale gas prices rose on Wednesday morning as forecasts for weaker production from wind and solar power plants increased demand for gas from power plants.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub (TRNLTTFMc1) was up 0.55 euro at 33.56 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) or $11.55/mmBtu, by 0813 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch day-ahead contract (TRNLTTFD1) was up 0.22 euro at 32.80 euros/MWh

The British day-ahead contract (TRGBNBPD1) rose by 0.85 pence to 81.60 p/therm.

Non-local distribution zone gas demand, which reflects demand from large gas users such as gas power plants, is expected to increase in north-west Europe by 121 gigawatt hours a day (GWh/d) to 1,849 GW/h for Thursday, LSEG data showed.

“This is driven by wind speeds which are expected to plummet by nearly 80% tomorrow and remain well below seasonal norms through mid-next week” LSEG analyst Dzmitry Dauhalevich said.

Solar power output is also expected to be weak in Europe.

“Solar power stays low this week due to clouds with limited improvement next week despite some clearer weather possible,” analysts at Engie EnergyScan said in a daily research note.

In Britain, peak wind power output was forecast at 4.8 gigawatts (GW) on Wednesday and 6.3 GW on Thursday, Elexon data showed.

Britain’s gas system was slightly under-supplied on Wednesday, with demand forecast at 157.83 million cubic metres (mcm) and supply forecast at 135 mcm, National Gas data showed.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract (CFI2Zc1) was up 0.69 euro at 69.81 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters