European February wind up 59% on year at record 78 GW average: WindEurope

London — European wind power generation in February rose 59% year on year to average 78 GW, comfortably surpassing previous records set in December and January, data aggregated by WindEurope showed Monday.

Wind turbines generated 54.5 TWh through the month, the energy equivalent of 108 standard LNG cargoes.

December and January averaged 63 GW, meaning total wind output over the three months came to 205 TWh.

Week 10 (ending March 1) output fell 10% week on week with a further decline forecast across northwest Europe this week, according to spotrenewables.

German wind is expected to average 7 GW in Week 11 versus a 30 GW average through February.

For a fifth weekend in a row, Germany recorded negative hourly power prices as the month turned, with a growing number of markets also seeing negative hourly prices in February, including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France, Belgium and Netherlands, Great Britain and Ireland.

German February spot power averaged below Eur22/MWh, down 47% compared with February 2019, exchange data showed.

There was 205 GW of wind turbine capacity installed across Europe by end-2019 after 15 GW were added last year, WindEurope data showed.

National wind records tumbled in February (GW)

Source: IWR, WindEurope (based on TSO data)