Two Spanish nuclear power reactors have delayed and shortened planned refuelling stoppages scheduled to start at the end of this month and the middle of April, the latest Remit notices show.
The 1.01GW Almaraz 1 nuclear unit will be off line between 14 April and 7 May instead of the original 29 March-5 May schedule, while the 996MW Asco 1 plant is now planned to shut down over 28 April-22 May rather than 18 April-22 May. The new schedules indicate that Almaraz will now be stopped for 23 days instead of 38 days, and Asco 1 will be disconnected for 24 days instead of 34 days.
Spanish utilities Iberdrola and Endesa control 53pc and 36pc, respectively, of Almaraz 1, while Asco 1 is fully owned by the latter. The companies did not immediately reply to queries from Argus to confirm whether the delays were related to preventive measures against the coronavirus.
Companies such as French state-controlled utility EdF recently changed the maintenance schedule of their nuclear reactors because of restrictive measures to contain the spread of the virus.
Nuclear power availability in Spain will now continue at the full 7.11GW of installed capacity until 28 April, reducing the potential call on fossil fuel generation on days of low wind power output. This will add further pressure on gas and coal-fired plants amid lower power demand in the Iberian country as a consequence of the coronavirus.
Output from combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants has dropped by 35.7pc year on year to 1.06TWh in March, while generation from coal-fired units fell by 37.2pc to 429GWh.
Demand has dropped by 2.7pc year on year over 1-25 March in mainland Spain, which compares with a 1.4pc increase until 13 March, before restrictive measures started to be implemented in the country.
