AS the sun came and the wind stopped blowing in June, the north's power system was forced to call on more expensive forms of generation like coal, gas and peat to meet demand.
But any volatility during the month was alleviated by low demand and the return of the Moyle interconnector, according to the latest Naturgy Energy review and forecast.
And it revealed that Northern Ireland wholesale gas and electricity prices have decreased by 49 per cent and 26 per cent respectively compared to the same period last year.
The report shows that wholesale gas prices fell by 11 per cent on a month-by-month basis while electricity prices registered a decrease of 8 per cent.
Planned maintenance on a number of Norwegian pipelines responsible for delivering gas into key energy hubs; such as Germany and the Netherlands, meant deliveries into the UK were far higher than normal.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), which released its 2020 outlook during June, pointed to a decidedly bearish outlook for Brent oil. Moves on the wider energy complex, including oil, coal and carbon will continue to dictate moves on the far curve.
Naturgy energy analyst Lauren Stewart said: “With the summer weather finally arriving and with higher than normal temperatures expected to continue into July, sentiment in the market is expected to turn more bearish than neutral.
"As always, wind generation has a big impact on electricity prices which increased by 12 per cent compared to last month. Renewables made up 26 per cent of the overall fuel mix for the month.
However, there was some volatility in the market with several outages across the country including in Ballylumford and Moneypoint,” she added.
Prompt gas prices during the first part of June were far more stable than the previous month, trading within a relatively tight range. LNG imports into Britain surprisingly dropped off during the first half of June.
With spot LNG prices remaining low, speculation is mounting as to whether US producers might cut back output later this year in order to re-balance the market, which could provide some price support for near-term products.
The report also revealed that June registered a 8 per cent decrease in electricity prices month on month, averaging at 3.89 p/kWh
