The French spot contract for Friday eclipsed the German spot price, as wind power generation was expected to fall in France and rise in Germany.
The French spot contract is normally lower than the German equivalent as Germany uses expensive gas-fired power generation to cover its baseload supply.
The German day-ahead (TRDEBD1) fell 15.9% to €62 ($70.77) per megawatt hour (MWh) at 0812 GMT, LSEG data showed.
French baseload for the day ahead (TRFRBD1) was up 24.3% at €65.25/MWh, LSEG data showed.
On the supply side, Germany was expecting wind output to rise by 10.5 gigawatts (GW) to 30.4 GW on Wednesday, while French wind output was expected to fall 3 GW to 3.4 GW, LSEG data showed.
Demand is expected to drop in both countries, with German consumption expected down 2 GW as average temperatures fall nearly 2 degrees Celsius, and French consumption expected to drop 770 megawatts, the data showed.
French nuclear availability rose two percentage points to 84% of total capacity as the Golfech 2 reactor, which was affected by the heatwave last week, and the Blayais 2 reactor returned to service.
Along the curve, the German front-year power contract is recovering on Thursday with gas also edging up as the concerns about low gas storage levels and further heat waves are weighing on the market as we could very well see further reductions to the French nuclear availability, Mind Energy analysts said.
Low gas storage levels have continued to support the gas market after Qatar said Iran and the U.S. had made progress in indirect talks focused on the Strait of Hormuz.
The German year-ahead baseload contract (TRDEBYZ6) rose 0.7% to €93.40/MWh.
The French year-ahead position (TRFRBYZ6) dipped 0.4% to €57/MWh.
The European carbon market's benchmark 2026 contract ICEENDEX:ECF1! rose 0.7% to €80.07 per metric ton.
($1 = 0.8760 euros)