NORDIC Power rate rises on falling reserves

Nordic front-quarter prices rose on Tuesday on falling water reserves in the hydropower-dependent region, a higher-than-expected spot price, and a stronger carbon market.

However, a weaker coal market pushed front-year prices lower. The Nordic front-quarter baseload power contract rose 0.35 euro to 22.65 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh), while the front-year lost 0.15 euro to 20.75 euros/MWh at 1316 GMT.

"The rest of this week including the weekend will be cloudy or overcast with frequent showers which will bring large amounts of rainfall to western and southern Norway," said Georg Muller, a meteorologist at Thomson Reuters.

Nordic water reserves available 15 days ahead were seen at 6.24 terawatt-hours (TWh) below normal, compared to the previous day estimate of 5.8 TWh below normal.

The Nordic market relies on hydropower for more than half of its electricity generation.

European next-year coal prices fell $0.15 to $54.10 a tonne.

In the European carbon market, front-year allowances firmed 0.03 euro to 4.80 euro a tonne.

Nordic power price for the next-day physical delivery , or system price, fell 0.83 euro to 28.84 euros per MWh at an auction on the Nord Pool exchange.