French wind production drops, causing a split in spot prices

The French spot contract rose on Friday as the French wind supply was expected to fall by almost 40%, and nuclear output declined. Meanwhile, German demand and supply are expected to decrease, and German wind supply will be slightly higher.

By 0926 GMT, the?French baseload day-ahead contract was up 18.4% to 107.75 Euros ($125.33). The German equivalent contract fell 8.2% to 109.5 euros/MWh.

LSEG data revealed that German wind-power production was expected to increase by 730 megawatts, to 25.2 gigawatts. Meanwhile, French wind power was projected to decrease by?5 GW at 7.7 GW.

Analysts at Mind Energy say that the German power market is expected to rise further next week due to low wind output, higher demand and increased gas prices.

According to LSEG, the German wind?power will drop to about 21 GW Monday and then to 12 GW for Tuesday and Wednesday.

LSEG data revealed that the power demand in Germany is expected to decline by 2.5 GW at 62.6 GW while French consumption will drop by 1.8 GW at 61.3 GW.

The French nuclear capacity fell by two percentage points, to 83% total capacity, as the Belleville 1 Reactor went offline for maintenance.

EDF, the operator of Belleville 1, said that the reactor was disconnected late Thursday night to perform maintenance on equipment in the non-nuclear area.

German baseload for the year ahead was up 1.5% to 87.40 Euros/MWh. French baseload 2026 fell 0.9% to 52.70 euros.

Benchmark European carbon permits increased 1.5%, to 93.16?euros per metric ton.

Engie's EnergyScan analysts stated that the European carbon contracts continue to climb 'to their highest level since July 2023' following Euronext Commitment of Traders' report on Wednesday which showed an increase in net long positions.

The long position increased by 10.75 million tons in a week, which is an impressive increase for such a short period of time.

(source: Reuters)