Nordic June Falls to 25-Day Low

The Nordic June baseload power contract has failed to continue upward on Tuesday morning from yesterday's slight rally as losses in European gas and emissions have placed downward pressure on neighbouring European power markets. Prices could be weighed down in June amid lower power demand due to higher temperatures and the return of nuclear units.

• Nordic Base Pwr JUN 24 down 7.4% at 31.50 EUR/MWh. This is the lowest the contract has been since 3 May, when it closed at €30/MWh.
  
• The 101MW curtailment at the 1.6GW Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor will now end on 7 June from the original date of 29 May, latest Remit data show.
• But works at the 890MW OL1 nuclear reactor in Finland are still expected to last until 16 June, the latest Remit data show.
• And the 1.08GW Ringhals unit 3 nuclear power plant will return to the grid on 29 June.
• Despite this, Nordic nuclear reactors were operating at 75% of capacity on Tuesday, up from 73-74% over Friday-Monday, although still 9 of 11 units are online, according to Bloomberg.
• Norwegian demand is anticipated at ~ 11.87GW across June, down from about 12.6GW in May, data from Entso-E show.
• Lower power consumption comes as temperatures in Norway are anticipated to average about 12.3C next month compared to 9.5C in May – potentially weighing down prices.
• Closer in, capacity on 723MW Norned power link between Norway-Netherlands will be lowered by 233MW over 29-31 May. The interconnector will then run at 420MW of capacity over 31 May 2024-1 July 2025 due to planned maintenance, latest Remit data show.
• Norwegian wind is forecast at load factors of 20-36%, or 1.06-1.91GW over 29-30 May-up by about 420MW on the day. Wind is then forecast to drop between 13-15%, or 0.685-0.781GW over 31 May-1 June.