POWER: France Spot Power to Drop on Sharp Rise in Wind

The French front-month power base-load contract closed slightly lower on Wednesday at €70.52/MWh but remains at levels seen last in mid-January on a rolling basis. Spot power in France is likely to drop sharply as wind output is forecast to almost double on the day. The IFA2 interconnector has an unplanned outage on Thursday. 

• France Base Power SEP 24 closed down 2.9% at 70.52 EUR/MWh on 21 August. 
  • EUA DEC 24 up 0.5% at 72.51 EUR/MT
  • TTF Gas SEP 24 up 0.7% at 37.27 EUR/MWh
• The latest 6-10 days ECMWF for Paris suggested mean temperatures have been revised lower at the start of the forecast period with above normal temperatures until 24 Aug, below normal temperatures 25-26 Aug, and above normal until 31 Aug. 
• In France, nuclear availability declined to 71% as of Thursday morning, down from 73% of capacity as of Wednesday morning, RTE data showed, cited by Bloomberg.
• In France, wind output is forecast to almost double to 6.63GW during base load, compared to 3.64GW forecast for Thursday. Solar PV output is forecast to decrease to 3.96GW during base load on Friday, up from 4.92GW forecast for today according to SpotRenewables.
• Power demand in France is forecast at a maximum of 48.53GW on Thursday and of 49.45GW on Friday, Entso-E data showed. 
• The IFA 2 Tourbe-Daedalus interconnector will have no available capacity in both directions on Thursday until 15:00 CET in an unplanned outage. The halt started 22 Aug 00:16 CET. 
• France net power exports to the UK are scheduled at 83MW today, compared with the five-day moving average of 1.91GW, Entso-E data showed. 
• European gas benchmarks are edging slightly higher today but have priced out most of the Sudzha related concerns as flows remain intact and there appears to be little sign from either side to halt them.