French prompt power prices climbed Wednesday as forecast temperatures were revised downwards on the day, causing demand at peak times to reach circa 93 GW during several days next week, sources said.
Baseload power for delivery Thursday was last heard trading before the Platts 11 am London time close at Eur39.25/MWh, 40 euro cent higher on the day.
Peakload however moved in the opposite direction, shedding Eur1.85 on the day, last heard at Eur46/MWh.
Epex Spot settled day-ahead baseload at Eur39.08/MWh and peakload at Eur47.74/MWh.
Domestic demand Wednesday was 2.3 GW higher on the day at 75.6 GW in hour 12:00 local time, but was due to fall to 77.9 GW during the same hour Thursday, according to French grid operator RTE.
Temperatures were 1 C below the norm Wednesday in Paris, and 1 C lower than initially forecast on Tuesday, CustomWeather data showed. On Thursday, they are set to remain unchanged, before plunging by the end of the week to 5 degrees Celsius below the norm for this period.
By next Tuesday, temperatures are forecast to reach 9 C below the seasonal norm, with RTE pegging demand at peak times at 93 GW.
Week-ahead baseload was last heard trading at Eur46.40/MWh on Wednesday, or Eur2.65 higher on the day.
"Temperature runs are a bit puzzling," a trader said, adding the weather forecast for next week is constantly changing.
"It's changing all the time, so the model runs are not really reliable at the moment," he said.
The average temperature forecast for Monday and Tuesday next week is just above 1 C, he said.
On the supply side, wind generation Wednesday fell to 2.7 GW at peak times from 7 GW at peak times Tuesday.
On Thursday, wind is set to be little changed on the day, according to spotrenewables.com.
Nuclear supply was slightly higher on the day at 58 GW in hour 12:00 Wednesday. Also on the supply side, hydro generation was 300 MW higher in hour 12:00 at 9.6 GW.
Gas burn, meanwhile, was up 400 MW to 6.9 GW in hour 12:00 Wednesday, while coal generation was up by 650 MW at 1.6 GW.
