09 Jan 2020 | 12:45 UTC — London
Swiss hydro stocks hit 23-year high in week one
Highlights
Hydro levels in Week 1 at 70.4% of total capacity
Seasonal decline continues with levels 126 GWh lower on week
Mild temperatures in Week 2 to promote snowmelt
London — Swiss hydro stocks started the new year at a 23-year high in the week to Sunday, data from the Swiss Federal Energy Office showed Thursday.
Reservoir levels for Week 1 ending January 5 totaled 6.2 TWh, marking 70.4% of total nominal capacity. The year-on-year surplus at the end of 2019 followed into the new decade at 655 GWh.
The seasonal decline continued with levels 126 GWh lower week on week. Market participants expect the fall in stocks for Week 2 to be greater than the previous week because of mild temperatures encouraging snowmelt.
Data from the Swiss Meteorological office show that temperatures this week across the nation are averaging a high/low range of 10/0 degrees Celsius.
The regional reserves levels were varied, with Canton Valais in the west of the country at 67.6% filling rate, while Canton Grisons in the east was eight percentage points higher.
Canton Ticino and what is defined as "rest of Switzerland" by the office was unchanged at 71.2%.
On the Swiss-German border, Rhine river levels stood at 87% of the long-term average, down from 127% in the previous week, according to the data.
--Karishma Bhimani, karishma.bhimani@spglobal.com
--Edited by Jonathan Dart, newsdesk@spglobal.com