French spot prices rise on the wind losses, but are still impacted by holidays.

The wholesale French power day-ahead rose on Thursday as the wind power supply in the region was forecast to decrease, while the week-ahead price fell due to the beginning of the main holiday season.

In France, August is a major holiday month. This also applies to Germany. Schools are closing now in two of the most populous states in southern Germany: Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria. However, in other states that have low energy consumption, schools will only close at the end next week.

Riccardo Paraviero, LSEG's analyst for the day ahead, said that a decline in German wind energy suggested that Europe’s largest economy would be a Net Importer on Friday.

The French contract for baseload power on Friday rose 18.2% to 65 euros ($74.38 per megawatt-hour (MWh), while the German contract, which settled at 83.5 euro, was not traded.

The baseload in France was down 9.0%, at 43.9 Euros/MWh; and Germany's was down 10.2%, at 67.1 euros.

LSEG data shows that the German wind power output has dropped from 19.3 GW per day to 9.3 GW.

The French nuclear capacity increased by one percentage point over night to 78%.

On Friday, the power consumption in Germany would drop by 700 MW, to total 50.5 GW, and in France, it was expected to fall by 200 MW, to 41.8 GW.

German baseload year-ahead fell by 0.3% to 88.3 Euro/MWh.

The French equivalent annual contract for the year 2026 was bid at 63.7 Euros, and settled at 64.0 Euros.

International Energy Agency says that global electricity demand will rise by 3.3% by 2025, and by 3.7% by 2026. This is due to an increase in industrial usage, data centres, and electric vehicles.

The report said that large investments are needed in grids and storage, as well as in flexible devices and market designs. Reporting by Vera Eckert, Editing by Kate Mayberry. $1 = 0.8739 euro

(source: Reuters)