French nuclear availability failed to reach the 50 GW mark once again as the restart of the Dampierre 1 reactor was postponed to 5 Feb yesterday. But the impact on spot prices was offset by expectations of a strong rebound in wind power generation which dragged DE spot prices well below neighboring countries. On the curve, most contracts traded flat or slightly higher day-on-day, tracking gains in gas prices. EUA prices held strong gains recorded on Wednesday and traded just below the €95/ton mark in the morning.
EUA prices hit new all-time highs again this morning, with the Dec-22 contract trading as high as €96.19/ton at the time of writing. We still did not identify any fundamental driver behind this spike. As a consequence, power prices could strengthen further on the curve today, with additional support coming from steady gas prices. At the spot level, the continuation of mild and very windy weather should continue to exert bearish pressure, but a further delay in the restart of the Dampierre 1 nuclear reactor to 7 Feb (announced yesterday evening) could keep French prices steady as nuclear generation is unlikely to move above the 50 GW mark this winter.
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