European weekly wind production dips below 30 GW on heat wave

London — European weekly wind power generation averaged 29.3 GW in the seven days to Aug. 9, down 20% from the previous week due to a heatwave developing across Western Europe, data aggregated by WindEurope showed.

European wind made its largest year-on-year rise (20%) in July since February averaging 34.6 GW, while summer to date averaged 33 GW, up 10%.

Spot power prices continued to recover in week 32 with German August spot power on track to hit its highest since January, averaging above Eur32/MWh for the first third of August, Epex Spot data show.

Solar and lignite topped the German weekly power mix followed closely by gas, but wind falling below biomass to sixth place, TSO data aggregated by Fraunhofer ISE showed.

Wind was forecast to rebound with spotrenewables.com pegging German average wind levels around 8 GW for the week to Aug. 16, some 60% higher week on week.

Only 5.1 GW new wind capacity was installed in the first half of 2020 of which 1.2 GW was offshore, WindEurope said July 30, with installations generally higher in the second half of the year and the association forecast some 14 GW for 2020, around 20% below its initial forecast before the coronavirus crisis.

Wind covered a record 17% of European power demand in the first six months.