POWER
French hydropower reserves last week – calendar week 36 – edged down to 85.2% of capacity, or 3.06TWh, but widened the surplus over the five-year average, RTE data showed.
- Stocks widened the surplus to the five-year average to 11.25 percentage points, up from 11.14 points the week before.
- Reserves also remained 5.43 points above 2023 levels, compared with 5 points a week earlier.
- Hydropower output from pumped storage last week edged down by 171MW to 990MW. Output from reservoirs was stable on the week at 1.36GW, while run-of-river generation increased by 700MW to 3.67GW.
- Nuclear generation last week edged higher by 204MW to 38.72GW.
- Solar PV output last week decreased by 1.44GW to 2.72GW, while wind output edged up by 179MW to 3GW.
- Power demand in France last week averaged 42.1GW, compared with 42.65GW the week before, as temperatures are easing back.
- Precipitation in the hydro-intensive region of Grenoble last week totalled 60.8mm – well above the seasonal normal of 16.8mm.
- Looking forward, the latest weather forecast for Grenoble for this week suggested precipitation below the seasonal normal to total around 8.5mm, compared with the 30-year normal at 18.1mm.
- Mean temperatures in Paris this week are forecast to be well below the seasonal normal, with minimum temperatures dropping as low as 5.6C, which could boost some early heating demand.
- France’s hydrological balance is forecast to remain positive to end this week at +3.68TWh.
Wind output in France is forecast between 2.33GW and 7.22GW during base-load hours for the remainder of this week. Solar PV output is forecast at 4.04GW to 8.02GW during peak-load hours for the remainder of this week according to SpotRenewables.
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