EUROPE POWER-French spot contract rises on colder weather

PARIS, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The French spot electricity contract for Friday rose as colder weather fuelled demand, while the German forward curve prices rose with higher gas contracts and carbon prices following U.S. President Donald Trump walking back tariff threats.

The French day-ahead baseload TRFRBD1 was up 11.7% at 100.50 euros ($117.46) a megawatt hour by 0931 GMT. The equivalent German contract TRDEBD1 was untraded with a bid price of 108 euros/MWh.

German wind power generation was expected to add 2.7 gigawatts to 25.2 GW while French wind power output was projected to add 1.1 GW to 12.6 GW, LSEG data showed.

Power demand in Germany was set to fall by 140 megawatts to 66.1 GW, while French consumption is forecast to rise by 1 GW to 64 GW as average temperatures in the country are set to fall by nearly 1 degree Celsius to 7.1C, LSEG data showed.

French nuclear availability was flat at 88% of total capacity. POWER/FR

French power availability was reduced by 500 megawatts due to a strike action at the Paluel 3 reactor, EDF data showed.

German year-ahead baseload TRDEBYZ7 was up 1.7% at 88 euros/MWh. French 2026 baseload TRFRBYZ7 was untraded after closing at 51.40 euros on Wednesday.

The very cold forecasts and depleting gas storages are the main point of interest right now for the German front-year contract, with geopolitics also in focus as the market rises further early Thursday, analysts at Mind Energy said.

U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly stepped back on Wednesday from threats to impose tariffs as leverage to seize Greenland.

The most recent tariff threats were previously linked to a fall in carbon market prices, which influence forward curve power contracts.

Benchmark European carbon permits CFI2Zc1 rose 2.4% to 89.05 euros a metric ton.

($1 = 0.8556 euros)