French spot prices gained Monday as demand was due to rise amid a slight drop in temperatures, while on the supply side wind infeed was set to weaken on the day, sources said.
Baseload power for delivery Tuesday was last heard trading before the Platts 11:00 am London close at Eur28.50/MWh, or Eur4 higher than Friday's assessment of Monday baseload.
Tuesday peakload was last heard trading at Eur33/MWh, up Eur2.
Epex Spot settled the auction for day-ahead above the OTC at Eur30.21/MWh for baseload and Eur34.99/MWh for peakload.
Domestic consumption in peak hour 12:00 local time Monday was 68.7, down from 75.8 GW during the same hour Friday.
Temperatures in France were as high as 6.7 C above the norm for this period on Monday, but were due to drop slightly to 5.3 C above the norm on Tuesday, according to a market source.
Forecaster CustomWeather pegged temperatures in Paris Monday at 3 C above the 10/3 high/low norm for this period, and showed that on Tuesday they will rise and will be in line with the norm.
With temperatures dropping on the day in France RTE had said it expected demand to rise on Tuesday during hour 12:00 CET to 72.1 GW.
Prompt prices have however eased on the week as milder temperatures reduced power demand amid healthy supply. Last Monday, on February 15, day-ahead baseload was assessed at Eur34.25/MWh.
Wind levels Monday further relieved supply pressure, as they were reached 4.7 GW during the morning peak hours.
Wind is set to fall slightly on Tuesday, before seeing a drop to 800 MW during peakload hours Wednesday, according to spotrenewables.com.
In neighboring Germany, wind was seen at circa 21 GW during peakload hours Monday and was due to fall to 9 GW Tuesday, the same source showed.
On the conventional supply side, nuclear output was down in France on Monday, at 53.8 GW from 56 GW Friday amid reduced electricity demand. Coal was up by 300 MW to 1.4 GW and gas was down by more than 1 GW at 4.5 GW, RTE data showed.
