2011/01/05

(BN) German Next-year Power Falls to Two-Week Low as Coal Slides

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German Next-year Power Falls to Two-Week Low as Coal Slides
2011-01-05 11:31:26.320 GMT


By Lars Paulsson
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- German electricity for delivery next
year fell as coal prices slid from near their highest level in
two years, potentially making electricity generation cheaper.
Baseload power for 2011 dropped as much as 55 cents, or 1.1
percent, to 51.90 euros ($68.58) a megawatt-hour, its lowest
price since Dec. 21, according to broker data compiled by
Bloomberg. It was at 52.05 euros at 11:45 a.m. Berlin time.
Baseload is delivered around the clock.
Hard coal for next-year delivery to Amsterdam, Rotterdam or
Antwerp rose last week to a two-year high after flooding in
Queensland, Australia, cut supplies of the world's most commonly
used fuel for power stations.
Hard coal dropped 2.1 percent to $117.50 a metric ton
today. The fuel accounted for 18 percent of Germany's power
generation in 2009 and traded as high as $123 on Dec. 30. The
country also gets electricity from lignite, or brown coal, as
well as from nuclear plants and wind and solar power.
Bloomberg tracks power prices from brokers including GFI
Group Inc., ICAP Plc, Spectron Group Ltd. and Tradition.

For Related News and Information:
European power-market stories TNI EUROPE PWRMARKET <GO>
Today's top power news PTOP <GO> and energy news ETOP <GO>
European electricity-markets home page EPWR <GO>
German power-plant shutdown news TNI GER VOLTOUT <GO>

--Editors: Bruce Stanley, Stephen Cunningham

To contact the reporter on this story:
Lars Paulsson in London at +44-207-673-2759 or
lpaulsson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net