European gas-fired powgen surged to a five-year high last week, amidst slow wind speeds and colder weather conditions.
Gas-fired powgen hit last Thursday 3.2 TWh, its highest level since at least 2019, providing once again essential back-up to the European electricity system, against Europe’s second dunkelflaute episode in one month.
Overall, European gas-fired generation was up by 30% yoy since the start of November, translating into an additional gas burn of around 3.8 bcm.
Together with colder weather and limited LNG availability, lower wind generation also boosted European storage withdrawals which totalled at 18 bcm since the start of the heating season. storage fill levels are now below 80% of working capacity, with inventories standing 10 bcm below their last year’s levels.
One crucial question, is how the European power system would deal with a similar dunkelflaute episode during a much colder period, let’s say sometimes in mid-January. and while on average there should be sufficient spare gas-fired back-up capacity, would it be available in the right place and at the right time?
Source: Greg MOLNAR
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