CME Group plans to introduce financially settled wind power futures and options in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory review, expanding its suite of energy and weather-related derivatives.
The contracts will list on NYMEX and trade on the same platform as CME’s existing natural gas, power and weather products. The new offerings will cover five regions across four global power markets: two indices in Germany, one in the United Kingdom, one in Australia’s Victoria region, and one in Texas ERCOT in the United States. Regions were selected based on significant installed wind capacity or a notable share of electricity generation from wind power.
The underlying indices will be provided by Vaisala Xweather, tracking projected wind power output at designated locations. Settlement will be based on independent datasets modeling actual wind power output, enabling market participants to hedge exposure to renewable energy variability.
Peter Keavey, Managing Director and Global Head of Energy Products at CME Group, said the move addresses growing demand for hedging tools as wind power’s share of electricity generation rises. David Whitehead, General Manager of Insurance Sales at Vaisala Xweather, noted the contracts extend datasets previously used for temperature contracts to wind power markets across the United States, Europe and Australia.
The International Energy Agency reported wind power generation grew approximately 8% last year. CME’s Henry Hub natural gas futures reached a record average daily volume of 1 million contracts in the first quarter of 2026, while weather contracts saw average daily volume increase 13% to 1,000 contracts daily in the first half of the year.
