French prompt power prices rebounded Wednesday despite rising renewable generation in Germany as exports to the UK were forecast to return following maintenance on the UK-France interconnector Wednesday and domestic demand was boosted by above-average temperatures, sources said.
Baseload power for day-ahead delivery was last heard 90 euro cent higher at Eur32.55/MWh, while peakload gained 75 euro cent to Eur37.75/MWh.
Epex Spot settled Thursday firmly above OTC at Eur33.68/MWh base and Eur39.30/Mwh peakload, a day-on-day rise of 7.5% for the peakload contract, which is now at a Eur4 premium over Germany after a wide discount was maintained all summer.
Wind power output in France itself was seen lower, with more sunnier and warmer weather forecast for Thursday, according to sources.
Transmission capacity on the 2 GW UK-France interconnector was halved Wednesday due to maintenance, but is set to return Thursday, a trader said.
Domestically, RTE data showed French nuclear availability was forecast slightly higher at 47.7 GW for Thursday. Actual nuclear production reached 46 GW Wednesday at 8:00 am local time, with hydro peaking at 7.8 GW during the morning rush, RTE data showed.
Peak power consumption was forecast at 54.7 GW Thursday lunchtime after peaking at 54.1 GW Wednesday at 12:45 pm, the data showed. That is approximately 1 GW below the previous day's peak forecast.
Temperatures are forecast to remain 1-2 degrees Celsius above the seasonal average over coming days and as drier and warmer weather is forecast to take hold across Western Europe, according to weather sources.
French baseload power for October delivery dropped another 50 euro cent to Eur43.35/MWh, after strong gains in Monday's session.
