13:46 02Aug2001 RSF-US Midwest power falls, storm knocks out Ill. nuke

    SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Midwest spot power prices slipped again on Thursday on cooler weather, but temperatures were set to rise again over the weekend and into early next week, although not to the high levels seen earlier this week.
    In the news, a confirmed report hit the market late in the trading day that lightning had sparked a fire in the main transformer of Exelon Nuclear's Quad Cities' Unit 2 in Cordova, Illinois, forcing the 789-megawatt (MW) unit off line.
    Exelon said the fire was quickly extinguished at 8:45 a.m. CDT, about 30 minutes after the lightning struck.
    There were no injuries and no release of radioactivity as a result of the fire.
    Meanwhile, the adjacent 789-MW Quad Cities Unit 1 continued to operate at a slightly reduced level of 96-97 percent.
    An Exelon spokesman said he believed equipment would have to be replaced, but the situation remained very uncertain while operators continued to evaluate the situation.
    He could not estimate the duration of the outage.
    Traders said the effect of the shutdown on the market would depend largely on the duration of the outage, and they speculated that a slight firming of ComEd prices during the day might have been spurred by reports of the trip.
    "If there's a crunch when these things happen, prices tend to be overamplified," one trader said.
    "Right now the perception is things have calmed down a bit from the last several days, but we're anticipating temperatures will heat up over the weekend and into next week and that brings a whole new notion of motivation for higher prices."
    ComEd said it reached an all-time peak record of 21,263 MW on Tuesday, surpassing its previous record set in July 1999.
    The company had been projecting a new record again on Wednesday, but temperatures did not reach levels expected.
    In the forwards market, prices eased slightly. "It's still pretty quiet. Gas is up so everything is ticking up a bit with that, but it's not outrageous," another trader said.
    Weather Services Corp. (WSC) forecast Midwest temperatures at 4-8 degrees F above normal Friday-Saturday, 5-10 above Sunday and 6-12 above Monday.
    The WSC 6-10 day outlook called for above-normal temperatures in the Midwest.
    For city-by-city regional forecasts, double click on the following: Mid-America  (MAIN)   <WTHRMAIN>
           East-Central (ECAR)   <WTHRECAR>
    In other generation news, FirstEnergy Corp.'s 1,205-MW Perry nuclear unit in North Perry, Ohio, ramped up to 96 percent of capacity by early Thursday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said in its daily plant status report.
    Early Wednesday, the unit was operating at 64 percent of capacity.
    On NYMEX, Hub natural gas, shrugging off a softer cash, moved higher at midday, lifted by some heat in Texas and the Northeast and some short covering on reports a tropical depression may be forming in the Gulf of Mexico.
    At 12:40 p.m. EDT/11:40 a.m. CDT, September was up 8.4 cents at $3.165 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).
    Physical gas prices at the Chicago city gate were pegged at $3.13-3.21, down from $3.27-3.32 on Wednesday.
    ECAR---
    In the East Central Area Reliability Coordination Agreement (ECAR) region, firm peak power prices for delivery Friday, including those into Cinergy, traded in a $45.00-49.00/MWh range with most trades going through at around $46.00.
    On Wednesday, power was quoted at $61.50-65.00.
    ECAR forwards           08/02/01         Previous
    bal week                  ---           50.00-51.00
    next week             46.50-50.00 N     51.25-52.25 N
    bal August                ---               ---
    Sept                  27.75-28.25          29.00
    Q4 (Oct-Dec)          27.75-28.15          28.25
    winter (Jan/Feb) 02      31.50          32.00-32.25
    summer 02 (July/Aug)  58.00-58.25       61.75-62.00
    Q4 02                     ---               ---
    Cal 2002                  ---           38.75-39.50N
    ECAR CURRENT OUTAGES---(tentative restart)
 -   789 MW Palisades, nuclear, Mich. (unknown)
    ECAR PLANNED OUTAGES---
 -   810 MW Beaver Valley 1, nuclear, Pa. (Aug-Sept, about 35
            days)
 -   925 MW Davis Besse, nuclear, Ohio (Sept, about 40 days)
 -   893 MW North Anna 1, nuclear, Va. (Sept, about 30 days)
 -   800 MW Surry 1, nuclear, Va. (Oct, about 35 days)
 - 1,139 MW Fermi 2, nuclear, Mich. (Oct 1, about 40 days)
 - 1,090 MW Cook 2, nuclear, Mich. (Dec, about 35 days)
 - 1,020 MW Cook 1, nuclear, Mich. (about June 3, 2002, 35
            days)
    MAIN---
    Peak power prices in the Mid-American Interpool Network (MAIN) for Friday delivery, including those into the ComEd hub, traded at $43.00-48.25/MWh, off from $65.00-73.00 done Wednesday for today.
    MAIN forwards          08/02/01       Previous
    bal week                 ---         72.50-84.00
    next week            49.25-50.75     51.00-53.00
    MAIN CURRENT OUTAGES---(tentative restart)
 -   789 MW Quad Cities 2, nuclear, Ill. (unknown)
    MAIN PLANNED OUTAGES---
 - 1,120 MW Braidwood 1, nuclear, Ill. (Sept, about 20 days)
 -   500 MW Kewaunee, nuclear, Wis. (Oct, about 35 days)
 -   789 MW Quad Cities 2, nuclear, Ill. (spring 2002, about 20 days)
 -   512 MW Point Beach 1, nuclear, Wis. (Nov 2002, about 35 days)
    ((--Vibeke Laroi, San Francisco Power Desk, +415-677-2522, vibeke.laroi@reuters.com))