French spot slightly higher on small variations in demand and supply
The European wholesale electricity prices were virtually unchanged on Thursday, with French levels marginally higher and Germany's remaining untraded due to slight variations in demand and supply.
The market is sending mixed signals. "While wind generation is down (the overall drop in consumption) and residual load suggest (a) mildly bearish signal," said LSEG Analyst Xiulan He. He added that coal and gas capacity availability were both up.
At 0800 GMT on Friday, the French baseload price was 90.3 euros (105.16 dollars) per megawatt-hour (MWh), up 1.4% compared to its previous close.
The German equivalent position was untraded after settling at 104.3 Euro/MWh.
The French Autumn holidays in the next fortnight have weighed heavily on the week-ahead contract.
The German wind energy output is expected to increase to 16.6 gigawatts on Friday, from 15.4 GW. Meanwhile, the French wind power generation will be between 200-500 MW lower than Thursday's estimated level of 5.2 GW.
The French nuclear capacity increased by one percentage point overnight to 69%.
In Germany, power demand fell to 56.9GW from 57.7GW over the past two days. It was largely stable in France with 47.6GW.
The German baseload for the year ahead was 0.5% higher at 86.8 Euro/MWh. It had not been traded in France which closed at 56.4 euro.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets was 0.1% lower, at 77.78 Euros per metric ton.
According to the German Met Office DWD, the current temperature forecast for winter shows a strong trend towards a warmer winter early season in November to January when compared to the averages for these months from 1991 to 2020.
It added that the forecast quality is good for this period. Reporting by Vera Eckert and editing by Elaine Hardcastle.
(source: Reuters)