Prompt Off On Green Power Supply, Curve On Fuels
European spot power prices on Monday eased on more renewable supply, while the curve posted six-week lows under pressure from weakness in related fuels markets.
German baseload (24 hours) for delivery on Tuesday was 1 euro down from prices paid for Monday, at 36.8 euros ($47.5) a megawatt hour.
The equivalent French power contract shed 20 cents to 39.80 euros, having initially started the session firmer.
Wind power output was expected to rise by 400 megawatt to 3.2 GW day-on-day to Tuesday in Germany and solar output by 800 MW to 5.3 GW, according to Thomson Reuters Point Carbon data.
Power demand was set to stay flat in Germany at 61 GW but rise over 1 GW in France to over 48 GW from Tuesday, according to the data.
In supply news, E.ON's Grafenrheinfeld nuclear plant will stay offline a day longer than initially stated and is now due back mid-day on Sept. 17.
RWE's Niederaussem H coal plant of 616 MW will be offline due to a technical defect up to Wednesday evening, that operator showed on its website.
Along the forward curve, prices for German baseload delivery in 2015 were 23 cents down at 35.07 euros, the lowest for the contract since Aug. 5., with traders citing lower coal and carbon prices and a sharp decline in oil.
French Cal '15 was unchanged at 42.95 euros.
Brent crude fell below $98 a barrel as concerns over weak demand and plentiful supplies prompted investors and traders to dump the contract, while a strong dollar created further headwinds.
UK spot gas prices climbed on Monday due to an undersupplied system, while those for the winter season were up by 1.5 percent on concern that deliveries of Russian gas via Ukraine to Europe could continue to fall short.
A board member at major German importer Wingas said in an interview that somewhat reduced gas flows at this time of year were within the usual range of fluctuations.
(1 US dollar = 0.7744 euro)
(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Michael Urquhart)
