POWER
French hydropower reserves last week – calendar week 39 – increased by 0.82 percentage points to 86% of capacity, widening the surplus to the five-year average to the highest level so far this year, RTE data showed.
- Stocks widened the surplus to the five-year average to 14.2 points last week, up from 13.15 points the week prior – and the highest surplus so far this year.
- Reserves also widened the surplus to 2023 levels to 8.7 points, up from 6.9 points the week before.
- France’s hydropower generation from reservoirs last week edged higher by 213MW to 1.15GW.
- Run-of-river generation rose by 833MW to 3.87GW, while output from pumped storage was stable at 1.5GW.
- Nuclear generation last week decreased by 1.5GW to 37.06GW – the lowest weekly level since early July.
- Solar PV output last week declined by 817MW to 2.37GW, while wind output increased by 1.46GW on the week to 7.39GW.
- Power demand in France last week increased to 42.75GW, up from 41.99GW the week before.
- Precipitation in the hydro-intensive region of Grenoble last week totalled 105.9mm, well above the seasonal average of 12.8mm.
- Looking forward, the latest weather forecast for Grenoble for this week suggested precipitation to be broadly in line with the average this week to total 14.4mm, compared with the 30-year normal of 10mm.
- Mean temperatures in Paris this week are forecast to be mostly below the seasonal normal, with minimum temperatures to fall as low as 6C, which could spur some demand for electric heating.
- France’s hydrological balance is forecast to remain positive until at least 14 October to stand at +5.7TWh.
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