German prompt firms as French spot drops with increased nuclear supply
The European wholesale electricity market was mixed on Tuesday. France's position in the day-ahead price chart was impacted by increased nuclear availability, while German positions, which were already high, rose.
LSEG Research cited a decline in German solar energy output as bullish on the market.
It noted that the French demand is increasing and Germany, currently import-dependent, will not be in a position to meet it, even though this country will increase its coal and natural gas production units.
By 830 GMT, the price of French baseload electricity for Wednesday had fallen by 7.1% to 58.5 euros (68.37 dollars) per megawatt-hour (MWH).
The German equivalent contract was not traded, but the asking price was 97.3 euros/MWh - 46% higher than its previous close of 66.5 Euros.
The German Thursday Delivery Contract gained 50% to 104.8 Euros.
Overnight, the French nuclear capacity increased by four percentage points to 82%.
The German solar output is expected to fall to 13.9 gigawatts on Wednesday from a projected 15,3 GW Tuesday. Meanwhile, its wind output will rise marginally to 10,6 GW from 9,7 GW during the same time period.
The demand for electricity will increase by 600 MW in Germany to 52.9 GW, and by 1.4 GW to 45.5 GW in France on Wednesday. This is due to the high temperatures in France.
In a research report, the German Meteorological Office DWD stated that temperatures will rise to 27-30 degrees Celsius on Thursday and Friday from 25 degrees Celsius now. The warm weather is interspersed by frequent rain due to low-pressure systems.
The German baseload electricity for the year ahead fell 0.7%, to 86.8 Euros/MWh. In comparison, the French equivalent had been bid at 62.7 Euros after having settled at 65.5.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets was 0.4% zo, at 70.69 euro per metric ton. $1 = 0.8557 Euros (Reporting and Editing by Tasim Zaid)
(source: Reuters)
