German Nuclear Ban Spurs French Atomic Imports: Chart of the Day

Germany’s retreat from nuclear power has pushed its electricity prices above those of France for the first time in 16 months, spurring exports from French atomic plants as close as 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) to the border.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows the European benchmark for next year cost 59.80 euros ($86.75) a megawatt-hour yesterday, 1.05 euro more than in France. The German contract on June 6 rose above its French counterpart for the first time since February 2010 after Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed plans to abandon nuclear following the March 11 disaster in Japan. Deutsche Bank AG forecast electricity prices in Europe’s biggest economy may rise as much as 6 euros from 2012 as new capacity is needed.

“The gains in German power are all politically driven,” said Dieter Hluchy, a trader at Stadtwerke Hannover AG, a utility in Hannover, Germany. “As long as we are not able to put additional supplies online, there will be more electricity coming from France, the Czech Republic and Scandinavia.”

Nuclear accounted for 23 percent of power in Germany last year and meets more than 75 percent of demand in France, which exported 3,416 megawatts to its neighbor in the hour through 6 p.m. local time yesterday, more than twice as much as at the same time last year, according to European grid group Entsoe. French President Nicholas Sarkozy has offered to boost exports of mostly atomic power to Germany.

Germany will exit atomic energy by 2022. The country’s seven oldest reactors, halted in the second half of March after the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan, won’t return, leaving France “in a favorable competitive position,” Sarkozy said June 7.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lars Paulsson in London at lpaulsson@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net

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