Cold and less wind push German gas-fired power to highest level since February
German gas power plants supplied an average of about 10.1 gigawatts on Wednesday. Gas storage is just over 61% full, and wholesale gas recently touched 90 euros.
Symbolic image · Photo: Christian A. Schröder (ChristianSchd) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
A cold snap and a sharp drop in wind generation put more demand on Germany's gas-fired power plants. According to an analysis by Berliner Zeitung of data from the Fraunhofer Energy-Charts platform, their average output rose from about 9.3 gigawatts on Tuesday to around 10.1 gigawatts on Wednesday, the highest daily average since Feb. 25. Output peaked at almost 13.7 gigawatts at around 7:30 p.m. Meanwhile, average wind generation fell from about 21.7 to around 16 gigawatts.
Gas storage facilities were about 61.1% full, or roughly 151 terawatt hours, according to the Federal Network Agency's situation report of Oct. 22. The agency described this as well below levels in previous comparison periods but said security of supply remains assured. From Oct. 14 to 20, Germany received 17.5 terawatt hours of gas by pipeline and 1.6 terawatt hours through its LNG terminals.
On the European wholesale market, the front-month gas price at the Dutch TTF hub reached 90 euros per megawatt hour on Oct. 20 for the first time in almost four years before falling back by the close, industry outlet GMK Center reported. It cited low storage levels, disruptions to Norwegian supplies and a halt in Qatari LNG shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Whether higher wholesale prices reach households depends partly on how long the Middle East conflict lasts and on suppliers' contracts, the Federal Network Agency said.