PARIS, Aug 2 (Reuters) - European spot power prices for

early next week rose on Friday on expectations of falling wind

and solar production in Germany and a gradual fall in

temperatures next week from a Friday peak.

The German baseload power price for Monday delivery was up 5.75 euros to 42 euros ($48.13) a megawatt-hour

(MWh) compared with the price paid for Friday. The equivalent

French contract rose 2.75 euros to 37 euros per MWh.

'Wind production is expected down from today's levels at

similar levels to the previous Monday, which was around 1.3 GW

on average,' Thomson Reuters Point Carbon analysts said in a

note.

'While solar is still looking very healthy, the levels are

expected slightly down from today's high levels,' they added.

German wind power production was expected to drop by 340 MW

to 1.3 GW on Monday, while solar electricity output was seen

falling by 1.1 GW to 7.4 GW.

French nuclear power availability rose on Friday to 76.68

percent from 75.26 percent, helped by the return to the grid of

EDF's 900 MW Cruas 1 nuclear reactor.

The 1,300 MW Nogent 1, 900 MW Saint-Laurent 2 and 1,450 MW

Civaux 1 nuclear reactors are expected to go back online over

the course of next week, according to data from French power

grid RTE.

However, the 1,300 MW Belleville 2, 900 MW Cruas 3 and 900

MW Gravelines 3 and 900 MW Tricastin 1 reactors were scheduled

to be offline for maintenance next week.

Temperatures in France are expected to gradually get back to

seasonal averages of around 21 degrees Celsius over the course

of next week, from as high as around 34 degrees hit in Paris on

Friday, according to RTE. Storms were expected for this weekend.

In Germany, temperatures were set to fall by 3 degrees

between Friday and Monday, according to Point Carbon.

Along the forward curve, German year-ahead power prices

remained near the eight-year lows hit earlier this week,

following a downward trend that started in 2011, depressed by

low electricity demand and booming renewables supply.

The German Cal' 14 last stood at 36.50 euros per MWh,

unchanged from Thursday, having dropped to as low as 36.40 euros

a MWh earlier on Friday, levels not seen since March 31, 2005.

The equivalent French contract for 2014 delivery was 10

cents higher, at 41.7 euros.

Brent crude retreated as U.S. jobs data came in below

expectations, tempering economic optimism that had pushed oil to

its highest in four months earlier in the session.

($1 = 0.7531 euros)

(Reporting by Michel Rose)

((michel.rose@thomsonreuters.com)(+33149495570)(Reuters

Messaging: michel.rose.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

(Click on the following for information about European cash power prices, outages and interconnector maintenance. FRANCE: baseload prices, peak outages report GERMANY: baseload prices, peak outages, report UK: outages report SWITZERLAND: outages, reservoir levels NORDIC: report EU CARBON PRICES Interconnector maintenance diary: (Xtra clients: Click on http://topnews.session.rservices.com to see Top News pages in multimedia Web format.)) Keywords: MARKETS EUROPE ELECTRICITY/)

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