European spot prices fell on Monday as wind power supplies were expected to rise sharply in Germany, with the drop in prices more muted in France as higher temperatures are expected to drive stronger demand.
The German day-ahead base load contract (TRDEBD1) was at €69.50 per megawatt hour by 0835 GMT, down 29.6% from the closing price on Friday for Monday delivery.
The equivalent French contract (TRFRBD1) was at €74.50/MWh, down 12.4% from the price paid on Friday for Monday delivery.
Wind power supply in Germany is expected to jump 13.9 gigawatts to 25 GW on Tuesday, while wind levels in France are expected to tick up 210 megawatts to 3 GW, LSEG data showed.
Demand in France is expected to rise by 3.2 GW to 51.2 GW as average temperatures in the country are expected to rise 1.3 degrees Celsius to 28.8C, the data showed.
French nuclear availability rose three percentage points to 90% of total capacity.
The Tricastin 2 reactor went offline early on Saturday for partial fuel renewal and maintenance operations on equipment, operator EDF said.
The Chooz nuclear plant on the Meuse river in northern France had a production warning issued as low flow rates on the river could limit cooling water access, EDF said.
The operator also maintained its production warning for the Saint Alban reactor, which saw power reduced in late June due to high river temperatures.
France experienced a string of outages at the end of June as a heatwave topped 40C, pushing spot prices to winter levels.
River temperatures are not expected to lead to as many outages this week, however, as temperatures on the Rhone are expected to cross the 28C threshold only early next week, LSEG data showed.
French environmental regulations force nuclear operator EDF to reduce output when river temperatures reach a certain threshold to protect local ecosystems.
France is expected to see tightening fundamentals this week as residual load will approach that of the last one in late June, said analysts at Engie's EnergyScan.