Mid-Day Power Summary: France June Power at Lowest Since 30 April

France June base-load power is plunging to the lowest level since 30 April, weighed on by limited demand for electric cooling and above-normal nuclear availability. The German equivalent is broadly stable on the day, shrugging off gains in the wider energy complex amid high renewables output and mild weather.

• France Base Power JUN 24 down 8.4% at 37.42 EUR/MWh
• Germany Base Power JUN 24 down 0.1% at 65.85 EUR/MWh
• EUA DEC 24 up 0.5% at 70.54 EUR/MT
• TTF Gas JUN 24 up 1.6% at 30.13 EUR/MWh
• Rotterdam Coal JUN 24 up 0.4% at 107.15 USD/MT
• Investment funds net short positions in ICE German power futures turning the least bearish since October of last year, according to the COT data for the week of 10 May
• EU ETS DEC 24 erased some of the earlier gains despite more bullish investment funds’ positioning data and gains in the European fuel prices. The latest Commitment of Traders data showed investment funds net short positioning in EU ETS futures turning the least bearish since mid/late October last year.
• Power spot indexes at the Epex Spot for Wednesday delivery rebounded in CWE amid lower renewables output, with the Dutch market at a premium to its neighbouring countries. German day-ahead prices moved again into negative territory between 12:00 and 15:00 CET.
• Switzerland’s hydropower reserves increased by 1.1 percentage points last week to 19.6% of capacity as of 6 May, marking the first weekly increase this year, BFE data showed.
• Swedish utility Vattenfall has delayed the start of their 1.11GW Forsmark nuclear reactor by 4 days to 22 May, according to latest Remit data.
• European power exchange Nord Pool and Icelandic counterpart Elma will launch Iceland’s first short-term physical trading power market, according to Nord Pool.
• Ukraine is planning to import 23.69GWh of electricity on Wednesday – a new record – as Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure paired with cold weather has caused a significant capacity deficit in Ukraine’s power system, the Energy Ministry said.
• Poland’s June 2024 baseload power contract continued to trade lower on Wednesday, shrugging off slight gains in the emissions and coal markets amid warmer temperature and renewable forecasts and limited power plant maintenance.
• Poland expects its new wind farm act – which reduces the distance of large wind farms from buildings to 500m from 700m – to come into force at the turn of 2024-25, according to Ministry of Climate and Environment, cited by Poland’s ISBnews.
• The Slovak government has approved the construction of another nuclear plant with a capacity of up to 1.2GW, according to Bloomberg.
• Estonia’s Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) will launch auctions for offshore wind farms in the Saare 2.1, Saare 2.2 and Saare 3 areas in the Baltic Sea in June-July, according to the TTJA.
• Portugal’s Galp said it likely won’t meet its renewables expansion target of 4GW by 2024 due to high interest rates and low power prices, a company spokesman told Bloomberg.