French prompt power prices fell Thursday as nuclear output rose above 51 GW for the first time since last winter. At the same time, demand was forecast to ease from some of the highest levels since last winter with temperatures set to move above seasonal norms going into next week, according to sources. Baseload power for Friday delivery was last heard OTC at Eur41.50/MWh, some Eur8/MWh lower than the closing price for Thursday delivery. Day-ahead peakload dropped more than Eur10 to Eur46.75/MWh.
Epex Spot settled Friday below OTC, at Eur38.55/MWh baseload and Eur44.06/MWh peakload, a day-on-day drop of more than 25% on the exchange. Nuclear power output rose to 51.3 GW Thursday morning, the highest production level since March 7, data from grid operator RTE showed.
EDF restarted Thursday morning its 1.3 GW Belleville 1 reactor, a day later than planned due to strike action in the French energy sector earlier this week.
Reactor availability for Friday is pegged at 51.7 GW, possibly rising to 53.5 GW by next Thursday, the RTE forecast shows.
Low output from wind and solar plants Thursday again saw gas-fired production rise to over 6 GW across the peak working hours.
Hydroelectric output was at 6.5 GW at 09:00 am local time while coal-fired output was 2.3 GW.
National power demand is forecast to peak at 69.2 GW by 7 pm Thursday (1800 GMT), well short of the 72 GW forecast at the beginning of the week, according to RTE data.
Friday's demand peak was forecast at 65.6 GW with more subdued demand next week due to the November 11 holiday and temperatures recovering 2-3 C above the seasonal norm again, RTE data shows.
Week-ahead base was heard little changed at Eur39.75/MWh after climbing more than Eur1 in the previous session. December base recovered 30 euro cent to Eur48/MWh.
