(Bloomberg) --

High power prices persisted in the UK power market on Tuesday as low wind conditions continue to crimp supplies.

Intraday prices on Epex Spot SE were trading as high as £790 ($949.15) a megawatt-hour for 6-6:30 p.m., even higher than Monday. National Grid Plc opted not to use its demand reduction tool tonight for the first time to help ease the crunch.

Wind power is forecast to drop as low as about 580 megawatts on Tuesday before picking up to about 3,920 megawatts on Tuesday evening, according to Bloomberg’s model. The record was 20,896 megawatts on November 2, according to National Grid data.

Gas-fired power stations were picking up the slack meeting 63% of power generation, with wind making up 2% and imports 11%, grid data shows.

The day-ahead auction settled 15% lower at £325.89 a megawatt-hour as the wind situation improves.

Britain is making offshore wind a cornerstone technology of its push toward net zero by 2050. Consumers will need to become more sensitive to matching demand with supply as more sectors electrify. National Grid is using a demand turn-down tool to try to aggregate household reductions this winter, the plan is to roll out the scheme more widely in future. 

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