Hourly price forward curve (HPFC)

The Hourly Forward Curve ( short HFC ) ( " hours forward price curve " ) is in energy trading a tool to record the development of procurement and delivery periods. It is for example formed based on the current wholesale prices on the electricity exchange EEX.

In this context of Hourly Price Forward Curve (short HPFC ) is spoken. A HPFC is a virtual product, because the reported hourly rates can not be traded on the market. For this reason, dynamic HPFC are increasingly used, with which the pricing risk of power supply will be charged additionally.

On the market there are numerous tools that use the HFC or HPFC to evaluate electricity and gas trading prices.

Power generation companies use Hourly Price Forward Curves in models to assess the cost-effectiveness of future power plants. With generation market models an electricity price is calculated and determined whether it will be economical to have the power plant to the grid for the whole future life of the power plant for each of the 8760 hours a year.

It is difficult to define exactly what makes a good HFC, but the following criteria should be met: