London (Platts)--14Nov2012/909 am EST/1409 GMT

The downward trend in wind generation levels continued to support prompt power prices Wednesday as forecasts ease amid rising demand, market sources said.

On the OTC market, day-ahead baseload was last heard at GBP50.40/MWh, up 70 pence from its last close while peakload prices rallied GBP1.25 higher to GBP59.75/MWh midday.

The N2EX day-ahead baseload power auction outturned just shy of the OTC at GBP48.35/MWh.

"This morning has seen a rise once again in day-ahead prices, driven by low wind-power forecasts for today and tomorrow with generation expected to fall under 700 MW tomorrow at points," said a market source.

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"Support for spot prices has also come from a higher gas spot this morning with an unplanned outage in Norway affecting UK gas supply," he added.

Wind generation midday outturned at below 1 GW but is forecast to reach highs of above 1 GW over Wednesday's peak demand period of 51.4 GW Wednesday evening, before dropping back below 1 GW at the same time Thursday when demand is forecast firmer at 51.7 GW.

In addition, prompt prices reacted early in the session to Tuesday's unplanned outage at Norway's Troll gas field which drove prices higher over the afternoon and remained flat to the previous close at midday as flows resumed.

Continental power imports remained steady at around 1.4 GW, or 3.2% of the energy market while nuclear contributions remained unchanged at around 6.6 GW, or 15.6%.

Fossil fuels continue to make up the majority of the energy mix with gas-fired power at 12 GW and coal generation at 20.4 GW.

Stronger day-ahead pricing levels filtered through the prompt bolstering weekend baseload to GBP48.35/MWh from Tuesday's close at GBP47.90/MWh, while December baseload remained relatively flat at GBP49.25/MWh.

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