French electricity prices drop as wind power increases

On Monday morning, the French spot day-ahead power price fell on expectations of increased wind power production. In Germany, however, prices are rising due to less wind output.

LSEG data shows that the French baseload day-ahead power price was 85.50 Euros per megawatt 'hour' at 0954 GMT.

The spot auction for French baseload power on Monday settled at 94.47 euro/MWh. According to LSEG, the German day-ahead contracts had not yet traded. Baseload power?for Sunday's auction at Epex settled at 94.35 euro/MWh.

LSEG analyst Riccardo Paraviero forecasted a German baseload rate of 94.40 Euros/MWh for Tuesday.

He said that wind power in France is set to increase, which will reduce the need for gas-fired electricity generation.

LSEG data shows that the German wind power production is expected to?fall by 2.5 gigawatts - to 23.1 GW - on Tuesday. In France, it is expected to more than double - by 5.3 GW – to 10.2 GW.

The availability of French nuclear energy has also increased by two percentage points, since Friday, to 90 percent of the total capacity.

LSEG data showed that power consumption in Germany was projected to?rise 0.4 GW, to 52.5 GW, on Tuesday. In France, it is expected to?decrease 0.5 GW, to 64.9 GW.

Georg Mueller, LSEG's meteorologist, says that most of Europe will continue to be under the cold Arctic air for the rest of the week. However, a more mild pattern may emerge by mid-January.

French baseload for January was last traded at 81.35 Euros/MWh, a decrease of 2.15 Euros from its previous closing, while German equivalent was down by 3.40 euros at 102.50 euros/MWh.

The benchmark German year-ahead contract is now focused on 2027. Baseload contract for that year has increased by 0.07 euros to 83.67 Euro/MWh.

The benchmark contract for 2025 on the European carbon market fell by 0.6%, to 87.49 euro per metric ton.

(source: Reuters)