Prompt Prices Fall on Lower Consumption, Strong Solar

Central European day-ahead power prices declined on Friday on forecasts for a drop in consumption over the weekend, lower temperatures, healthy generation availability and strong solar output, traders said.

On regional exchanges, Czech and Slovak power for delivery on Saturday fell nearly 17 percent to 25.11 euros ($34.19) per megawatt-hour (MWh) and the Hungarian equivalent declined more than 26 percent to 33.31 euros.

Data from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon showed forecasts for wind power output in Germany declining 3.7 gigawatts (GW) to 3.5 GW while solar power generation was expected to ease by 390 MW to 7.8 GW on Saturday but remain above seasonal norms.

Czech electricity producer CEZ reconnected the 1,055 MW Unit 2 at its Temelin nuclear power station to the grid on Friday morning after a 48-day outage for fuel exchange and a generator refurbishment.

Cooler temperatures, meanwhile, after a heatwave this week mean lower usage of air conditioning.

Further along the curve, Czech power for delivery next year gained 15 cents to 33.65 euros and the Hungarian Cal '15 rose 28 cents to 43.13 euros, tracking oil and carbon higher, traders said.

Around the region, the benchmark German Cal '15 increased 18 cents to 34.45 euros.

Day-ahead on Poland's POLPX exchange fell to 143.79 zlotys ($47.21) from 165.27 zlotys.

Brent crude oil pared gains but remained above $113 a barrel on an easing of concerns that an insurgency in Iraq would trigger a sudden and significant halt in its oil exports.

European Union carbon futures gained 8 cents to 5.67 euros a tonne in afternoon trading.

($1 = 0.7345 euro) ($1 = 3.0458 Polish zloty) (Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Dale Hudson)