EUROPE POWER-High-asking prices for Monday, cold weather period coming
FRANKFURT, Jan 13 (Reuters) - European prompt power for delivery on Monday saw far higher asking prices compared with Friday delivery as cold weather was on the cards, but volumes had not changed hands in late morning.
German baseload power for delivery on Monday on was offered at 185.5 euros ($201.06) a megawatt-hour (MWh) at 1045 GMT, compared with a Friday delivery settlement of 70 euros.
The equivalent French asking price was 193 euros/MWh after 83 euros had been paid for Friday delivery.
Colder air masses of polar origin will reach the continent across the Atlantic at the weekend, which will bring a wet and cold, wintry weather character, German met office said in a daily research note.
Further ahead, "As for the coming weeks, weather is expected to go more towards the normal (meaning colder), which can provide some upside to power prices," said Fabian Ronningen, senior analyst at Rystad Energy.
Wind power output in Germany was forecast to go down to 25.7 gigawatts (GW) on Monday, but from a very high level of 41.7 GW on Friday, two thirds of installed capacity, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
French nuclear availability remained at 73% of total capacity.
Power consumption in Germany was seen up by 1.5 GW, compared with Friday, to arrive at 61 GW on Monday.
Demand in France was seen gaining 2 GW to 59.5 GW on Monday and average 66.4 GW across next week.
On the curve, German baseload for 2024 delivery dropped 4.7% to 171 euros/MWh.
The equivalent French contract was untraded after close at 188.5 euros.
European CO2 allowances for December 2023 expiry shed 1.9% at 78.77 euros a tonne.
German economic output rose 1.9% last year, federal statistics showed.
A Kiel economic institute comment said it could have been 4%, had energy supplies not plunged from Russia after the Ukraine invasion and logistics problems persisted.
German coal importers group VDKi issued 2022 statistics saying its members will break away from reliance on Russia. ($1 = 0.9226 euros) (Reporting by Vera Eckert, additional reporting by Forrest Crellin; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
