EUROPE POWER-Spot prices fall on higher wind volumes, easing consumption

FRANKFURT, June 21 (Reuters) - European prompt power prices on Thursday fell for the third day running on weak demand and forecasts for rising German wind power supply.

* "There is a bearish mood, with holidays approaching and the impact of strike news from France limited," one trader said.

* The Cruas 2 reactor cut output by 550 megawatts (MW), or two thirds, amid strike action by French utility workers, according to grid firm RTE. This followed statements this week there would be 10 days of strike activities.

* The price of German baseload power for Friday was down 29 percent at 24.25 euros ($27.93) a megawatt hour (MWh).

* French day-ahead baseload was off 23.9 percent at 29.5 euros.

* Thomson Reuters data showed German wind power output was likely to rise sharply to 23.5 gigawatts (GW) on Friday from 14.6 GW expected for Thursday. It should range between 5 and 11 GW over the next fortnight, except for a spike to 21.3 GW on Saturday.

* Switzerland's water reservoirs, which fill pumped storage power stations, were up 7.2 percentage points in the 7 days to June 18, to 48.5 percent of total capacity. The weekly levels have reached nine-year highs, boosted by an early snow melt in the Alpine region.

* Power demand was seen easing. German usage should fall by 1.4 GW day-on-day to stand at 60.9 GW on Friday and by 0.6 GW in France to 46.5 GW.

* Power curve contracts came under pressure from related fuels and carbon.

* Germany's Cal'19 baseload contract shed 0.9 percent to 40.75 euros/MWh and the contract's French equivalent lost 1 percent to trade at 45.5 euros.

* Benchmark European AP12 coal for 2019 lost 1 percent at $86.1 a tonne. BayernLB bank said in a research note that the escalating trade dispute between China, a global coal importer, and the United States had taken its toll on demand.

* European carbon permits for December 2018 expiry lost 0.8 percent to 14.39 euros a tonne.

* In eastern Europe, the Czech day-ahead contract, that tracks Germany, was down 35.7 percent at 32 euros. Czech year-ahead power fell 2.2 percent to 42.1 euros.

* Operators of the Swiss Muehleberg nuclear plant received a decommissioning order, in line with plans to take the plant offline at the end of 2019. ($1 = 0.8683 euros) (Reporting by Vera Eckert and Bate Felix, Editing by Adrian Croft)

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