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European Energy Markets
16JUL

France holds cheaper leg, heat unwinds

2 min read
09:48UTC

The France-Germany day-ahead spread compressed about 70% from its 30 June heatwave peak of EUR 71.50 to around EUR 18-26 by 5 July, as German prices nearly halved and France held the cheaper leg.

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EconomicDeveloping
Key takeaway

France held the cheaper day-ahead leg as the heat premium unwound, with Flamanville-3's September overhaul the forward risk.

The France-Germany day-ahead power spread compressed roughly 70% from its 30 June heatwave peak of EUR 71.50/MWh to around EUR 18-26/MWh by 4-5 July, as the heat broke and both legs fell 1. German day-ahead means dropped to roughly EUR 62-64/MWh from EUR 195 on 30 June, nearly halving.

France held the cheaper leg throughout the window, consistent with the 22 June reset where EDF nuclear kept French clearing below Germany . France last traded as the dearer leg on 15 June , a brief inversion that has not returned.

Germany's thermal stack drove the premium: gas-and-carbon CCGT set a high day-ahead floor through peak cooling demand, and that floor unwound as temperatures fell, compressing the clean spark spread with it.

The forward risk sits in September, when Flamanville-3 enters a year-long overhaul and removes roughly 1.6 GW from EDF's fleet at the onset of the heating season. Whether France holds the cheaper leg through it, or German thermal reclaims the discount, is the trade this desk watches.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Electricity got much cheaper in Germany over the past week, falling from EUR 195 per megawatt-hour on 30 June to around EUR 62-64 by early July, as a heatwave-driven price spike unwound. France's prices stayed lower than Germany's throughout, as they usually do, because France's large nuclear fleet keeps its electricity cheap. The gap between the two countries' prices, which had widened to EUR 71.50 during the heatwave, shrank back to about EUR 18-26. This is largely weather returning to normal: less need for gas-fired power plants in Germany once wind picked back up, and France's nuclear stations kept running through the heat despite some output cuts.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Germany's day-ahead price is set by its gas-and-carbon thermal stack whenever wind output is low, so the clean spark spread, the margin a CCGT operator earns after paying for gas and carbon, widened to roughly EUR 74/MWh at the 30 June peak and has now compressed as wind returned and gas-fired units stopped setting the marginal price .

France's cheaper leg depends on nuclear baseload staying online regardless of river temperature. EDF's 12% output cut on 30 June removed volume from Bugey, Golfech and Nogent without touching the low-cost baseload that actually sets the French clearing price, which is why the curtailment dented supply but did not flip France to the dearer leg.

What could happen next?
  • Risk

    Flamanville-3's scheduled overhaul from September removes 1,650 MW of French nuclear baseload through most of the 2026-27 winter, narrowing France's margin if another heatwave-driven curtailment event coincides with low wind.

    Medium term · Assessed
  • Meaning

    The spread compression back to EUR 18-26 is a return to the pre-heatwave baseline rather than evidence of a new structural low, since it depends on EDF's nuclear fleet running without further curtailment.

    Immediate · Assessed
  • Precedent

    The 15 June polarity flip shows France's cheaper-leg status can reverse within days once French forward contracts reprice on curtailment risk, a pattern Flamanville-3's outage could make more likely to recur.

    Short term · Reported
Sources:energy-charts.info
Mentions:France →Germany →EDF →Flamanville-3 →energy-charts.info →Golfech →CCGT →France-Germany day-ahead power spread →
First Reported In

Update #24 · Hormuz tanker rebound is no LNG relief

energy-charts.info· 6 Jul 2026
Read original →
Causes and effects
Caused by
France stays the cheaper power leg
The EUR 18-26 spread by 4-5 July is the direct unwind of the EUR 71.50 heatwave peak set on 30 June.
Occurred 30 Jun 2026
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France clears below Germany by EUR 17
France held the cheaper leg established in the 22 June EDF-driven reset through the current unwind.
Occurred 22 Jun 2026
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FR-DE power spread inverts, France on top
The brief 15 June flip to France-as-dearer-leg has not recurred; France stayed the cheaper leg through the unwind.
Occurred 15 Jun 2026
Read story →
This Event
France holds cheaper leg, heat unwinds
France kept the cheaper day-ahead leg through the unwind, and the forward risk sits in September when Flamanville-3's year-long overhaul pulls roughly 1.6 GW of nuclear from the fleet.
Led to
French heat flips the FR-DE spread
The 12 July flip reverses the EUR 18-26/MWh France-cheaper spread recorded on 5 July.
Occurred 12 Jul 2026
Read story →
Different Perspectives
LNG spreads desk
LNG spreads desk
The JKM-TTF arb flipped to a TTF premium of roughly USD 0.6/MMBtu on 15 July, the first time this cycle Europe has outbid Asia, yet no Atlantic cargo has rerouted west. Until a cargo actually moves, the desk reads the Hormuz premium as unconfirmed and the EUR 55 print as vulnerable to a fast reversal.
United States
United States
Washington reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports and a 20% Strait of Hormuz cargo toll on 13 July, driving TTF's 9% two-session rally to EUR 54.995/MWh. The posture is again setting Europe's gas benchmark by sentiment rather than by any confirmed change in cargo flows.
EDF
EDF
EDF slipped the Bugey 3, Golfech 2 and Chooz 2 restarts to 19, 22 and 25 July, pushing all three past the 20 July Bugey heat exemption, after river-cooling limits on the Rhone, Garonne and Meuse forced the cuts. The same thermal ceiling has capped the fleet in every major heatwave since 2003, and this cycle is no exception.
German power desk
German power desk
German day-ahead power climbed from EUR 126 to EUR 156/MWh over 14-16 July as the heat dome held, flipping the clean spark spread positive for the first time since 14 July. Gas-for-power demand is now back in competition with mandate storage injection right as the injection margin itself is thinning.
EU carbon and storage regulators
EU carbon and storage regulators
EUA carbon broke EUR 81/tonne on 13 July as the ETS Market Stability Reserve's scheduled withdrawals met fresh fuel-switching demand from France's nuclear curtailment. Brussels' mandatory storage-fill rule kept German and French injection running regardless of the TTF swings, the mechanism working as designed four years after the 2022 shock.
Equinor
Equinor
Equinor returned its Asgard field from maintenance on 11 July, lifting Gassco's exit nominations to 319.8 mcm/day just as TTF round-tripped on Hormuz risk. The restart gave Norway spare pipeline capacity to help Europe absorb the gas rally without drawing down storage, reinforcing its role as the post-2022 swing supplier.