Rising German wind power weighs on Monday prices

PARIS: European spot electricity prices for Monday delivery tumbled on Friday due to a projected increase in power generation from wind turbines and falling demand in Germany.

The price of over-the-counter baseload for Monday delivery in Germany was down 25.4% at 58 euros ($70.33) a megawatt hour (MWh) at 1102 GMT.

The French day-ahead contract fell 19% to 63 euros/MWh.

Electricity generation from German wind turbines is expected to rise by 9.1 gigawatt (GW) day-on-day to 16.4 GW on Monday, Refinitiv data showed.

Wind power in Germany is expected to rise until it reaches a peak near 40 GW on Thursday, then staying in the 30 GW range next Friday, the data showed.

French wind power supply is expected to shed 1.2 GW to 4 GW.

French nuclear power availability remained unchanged at 85.7% of available capacity.

An strike action at French nuclear plants protesting the EDF restructuring plan is expected on Tuesday.

On the demand side, power consumption is expected to fall 1 GW in Germany to 66.4 GW on Monday.

French electricity demand will add 660 megawatts (MW) to 51.4 GW on Monday, Refinitiv data showed.

Further along the power curve, year-ahead contracts tracked the fall in carbon and fuel prices.

Germany's Cal '22 baseload, the European futures benchmark, lost 1.4% to 49.60 euros/MWh, falling back from the two-year high earlier in the week.

The equivalent French year-ahead contract remained untraded after closing at 51.75 euros/MWh Thursday.

December 2021 expiry European CO2 allowances dropped 2.7% at 32.61 euros a tonne.

Hard coal for northern European delivery in 2021 shed 1.5% to $71.25 a tonne.

Global seaborne coal trade fell nearly 11% last year mainly driven by lower industrial usage due to the coronavirus crisis, Germany's VDKi coal importers lobby said on Friday.