CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced plans to launch financially-settled Wind Power futures and options in the fourth quarter, pending regulatory review. These new tools will help market participants manage risk associated with wind power generation, extending CME Group's suite of market-leading energy products.
Based on indices provided by Vaisala Xweather, the new futures will track and settle against independent datasets that model projected wind power output at designated locations. The new contracts add to CME Group's market-leading product offerings that help customers navigate the energy transition, including Henry Hub Natural Gas and Weather futures.
The regions selected have either a significant amount of installed capacity or a notable percentage of their electricity comes from wind generation. The five contracts cover four key global power regions:
- Wind Power Germany ERA5 100m 2019 Index
- Wind Power Germany ERA5 100m 2022 B Index
- Wind Power UK ERA5 100m 2022 Index
- Wind Power Australia VIC 2024-06 Index
- Wind Power U.S. Texas ERCOT ERA5 100m 2022 Index
"As wind power accounts for a growing share of electricity generation, hedging renewable energy markets has never been more important," said Peter Keavey, Managing Director and Global Head of Energy Products at CME Group. "Our new Wind futures and options contracts will provide market participants with a standardized, exchange-cleared solution to manage their exposure to fluctuating wind production impacting the power stack – all on the same platform as Natural Gas, Power, and Weather."
"Our work with CME Group brings the same independent, trusted, and rigorously modeled data behind temperature contracts to wind power, giving traders, utilities, and renewable operators a standardized way to manage the financial effects of an increasingly extreme weather environment," said David Whitehead, general manager of insurance sales at Vaisala Xweather. "It's a natural extension of the datasets our settlement services team has previously provided CME Group with, and we're excited to help scale the market for exchange-listed renewable weather derivatives across the US, Europe, and Australia."
Unlike traditional commodities, electricity must be generated the moment it is consumed. To maintain the balance between supply and demand, the energy grid relies on a diversified portfolio of sources. For natural gas and power traders, wind is the key variable – it dictates the marginal cost of energy and signals precisely when gas plants will turn on and when power prices are likely to move. Wind power generation grew by approximately 8% last year, according to the International Energy Agency.
CME Group offers the world's leading benchmark futures for energy. Average daily volume for Henry Hub, the world's leading benchmark futures for natural gas, reached a record ADV of 1 million futures and options contracts in the first quarter of 2026. In addition, weather contracts ADV grew 13% to 1,000 contracts a day in the first half of the year and average open interest climbed 58% to 73,000 contracts a day.
Wind Power futures and options will be listed on and subject to the rules of NYMEX. To learn more, visit here.
