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Spot prices up on less solar, rising French demand
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PARIS (Reuters) – European spot power contracts rose on Wednesday, as solar supply in Germany is expected to fall while demand is forecast to rise in France and a reactor restart was pushed back one day.
PARIS (Reuters) – European spot power contracts rose on Wednesday, as solar supply in Germany is expected to fall while demand is forecast to rise in France and a reactor restart was pushed back one day.
German baseload power for delivery on Thursday rose 2.4% to 561 euros ($570.76) a megawatt-hour (MWh) at 0914 GMT.
The equivalent French price gained 1.6% to 561 euros/MWh.
Power from German solar panels is seen falling 2.5 gigawatts (GW) to 7.9 GW, the data showed.
“The solar peak is set to drop by 7 GW though and we expect little to no net exports in the solar hours,” Refinitiv analysts said.
Daily wind power output in Germany was forecast to gain 2.1 GW day-on-day to 4.2 GW on Thursday, while that in France is expected to add 1.3 GW to 2.3 GW, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
French nuclear availability was flat at 46.4% of total capacity. [POWER/FR]
The Paluel 4 reactor restart was delayed one day to Thursday after going offline with an unplanned outage on Monday.
Water levels on the Kaub river in Germany were at 34 cm Wednesday. Levels in the 30 to 35 cm range are acceptable for shipping, if expensive and with big losses in loadable cargo so as not to weigh down vessels too much.
Power consumption in France is expected to rise 1.7 GW to 40.2 GW on Thursday, while demand in Germany is set to edge down 450 megawatts (MW) to 56.2 GW, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Along the curve, German forward prices rose across the board, with the November 2022 contract reaching a high as utility Uniper unveiled a net loss of more than 12 billion euros in the first half of 2022.
German baseload for 2023 delivery rose 5% to 521 euros/MWh.
The equivalent French position was untraded after closing at a contract high of 612 euros on Tuesday.
European CO2 allowances for December 2022 expiry gained 3.3% to 95.13 euros a tonne.
($1 = 0.9829 euros)
(Reporting by Forrest Crellin, additional reporting by Vera Eckert; editing by Robert Birsel)
Spot power pricing refers to the current market price for electricity, which can fluctuate based on supply and demand dynamics.
Renewable energy is energy derived from natural resources that are replenished, such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power.
CO2 allowances are permits that allow companies to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide, used in cap-and-trade systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Baseload power is the minimum level of demand on an electrical grid over a span of time, typically provided by stable energy sources like nuclear or coal.
A nuclear reactor restart is the process of bringing a nuclear reactor back online after it has been offline for maintenance or due to an outage.
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