Europe's December wind output rises 43% on year to record 63 TWh

European wind power production surged in December to a record 62.9 TWh, up 43% year on year, according to daily data by WindEurope.

Wind generation averaged 84.5 GW in the month, lifting the 2023 average above 58 GW, up 11% from 2022.

Many countries set new peak records during December, while European wind set a new daily output record on Dec. 22, averaging 139 GW.

Strong wind drove an increase in negative hourly pricing, while capture prices fell sharply.

German onshore wind capture prices averaged just Eur30/MWh for the final two weeks of 2023 after falling below zero on two consecutive days over Dec. 25-25, according to Platts assessments for S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Elsewhere, UK offshore wind capture prices fell to GBP6.51/MWh Dec. 24, but recovered to GBP62.52/MWh by Dec. 30.

Analysts at S&P Global Commodity Insights forecast 2024 wind output about 5 GW higher across 10 core markets in west and south Europe assuming average wind conditions.

Meanwhile, wind output is forecast to fall in early 2024 after it fell 15% over Dec. 25-31 from Week 51's all-time high.

Germany's output was forecast to fall from above 40 GW on Jan. 3 to around 12 GW by Jan. 6 with similar declines seen across northwest Europe, while Iberia could see rising wind supply, according to spotrenewables.com.

On an annual basis, 2023 wind output rose above 500 TWh for the first time, with EU27 nations, Great Britain and Norway generating about 545 TWh, according to preliminary data by National Grid and Entso-e aggregated by Fraunhofer ISE.

The amount of energy is similar to around 100 Bcm of natural gas or over 1,000 standard LNG cargoes if the gas was to be burned in a standard 50% efficient gas-fired power plant.

EUROPEAN MONTHLY WIND GENERATION

Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights based on WindEurope, TSO data