Central European Spot Power Mixed as Prices Converge

Central European day-ahead power prices converged on Tuesday as limited nuclear supply lifted Czech and Slovak prices, while increased import capacity helped push Hungarian prompt power lower, traders said.

On regional exchanges, Czech electricity for Wednesday rose 18 percent to 41.87 euros ($52) per megawatt-hour, Slovak day-ahead climbed 17 percent to 41.87 euros and Hungarian prompt power fell 8 percent to 41.87 euros.

Hungarian prices have been trading at a premium in recent months, but traders said a return of cross-border capacity between Hungary and Slovakia helped to narrow the gap.

"The return of a interconnector between the countries has made a difference," one trader in the region said. "Unless there is an outage any time soon, prices should be more stable."

Traders attributed the rise in Czech and Slovak prices to a continuing unplanned outage of two 500 megawatt reactors at the Dukovany nuclear power plant.

Data from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon showed forecasts for wind generation in Germany mainly steady at 3.2 gigawatts and solar output more than doubling to 1.9 gigawatts.

Further along the curve, the Czech Cal '15 edged 5 cents higher to 34.25 euros, and the Hungarian front year declined 5 cents to 42.35 euros on the Prague-based Power Exchange Central Europe.

Around the region, the benchmark German Cal '15 contract declined 1 cent to 34.66 euros on Germany's EEX exchange in afternoon trade.

Bosnian grid operator Nezavisni Operator Sistema (NOS) on Tuesday announced the cross-border power capacity available for allocation in December.

Moldova extended its contracts with Russia's Gazprom for 2015 gas supplies and said the price it paid for Russian flows would be lower in the first quarter due to a sharp fall in the cost of oil.

Day-ahead prices on Poland's POLPX exchange rose to 228.28 zlotys ($67.20) from 150.32 zlotys as bourse data showed planned and unplanned outages would fall to 4.9 gigawatts from 6.4 GW from a day earlier.

Brent crude fell to $82 per barrel as a firm dollar and robust production from U.S. shale fields outweighed a drop in Libyan output, although it recovered in part from a four-year low early in the day.

European carbon futures were up 4 cents to 6.76 euros a tonne in afternoon trading. 

(Reporting by Michael Kahn; editing by Jane Baird)