In the week of August 5, weekly average electricity prices in most major European markets saw a decline compared to the previous week. The EPEX SPOT market in France experienced the most significant drop, with prices falling by 43%. In this market, daily prices decreased consistently throughout the week, from €46.52/MWh on Monday, August 5, to €12.79/MWh on Sunday, August 11. The UK’s N2EX market and the Nordic countries’ Nord Pool market followed with decreases of 31% and 29%, respectively. In other European markets where prices fell, the declines ranged from 1.6% in Spain’s MIBEL market to 16% in Belgium’s EPEX SPOT market.
Italy’s IPEX market was the exception, with prices rising by 7.1% compared to the week of July 29, reaching a weekly average of €128.70/MWh. This market also recorded the two highest daily prices of 2024 so far, with €136.28/MWh on Monday, August 12, and €133.75/MWh on Thursday, August 8.
In other major European markets, weekly prices varied from €17.22/MWh in the Nordic countries to €93.85/MWh in the Portuguese market. During the second week of August, many markets registered negative price hours between Friday, August 9, and Sunday, August 11, with the Belgian and Dutch markets also seeing negative prices on August 7. The lowest price of the week, €59.97/MWh, was observed in the Dutch market between 13:00 and 14:00 on August 11. No negative prices were recorded in the Italian market, while the Iberian market saw prices drop to €0/MWh between 10:00 and 17:00 on August 11.
The decline in demand across most European markets, coupled with increased wind energy production in Germany and higher solar energy production in the Iberian Peninsula and France, contributed to the overall decrease in prices, despite rising gas prices during the week. However, in the Italian market, higher gas prices and lower wind production led to increased prices, despite lower demand and a slight rise in solar energy production.
AleaSoft Energy Forecasting’s projections for the week of August 12 indicate that prices will likely decrease in the Iberian Peninsula, German, and Italian markets due to lower demand and increased wind energy production, alongside higher solar output in Germany. Conversely, prices are expected to rise in the markets of France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, driven by warmer temperatures and higher demand, particularly in the UK and Netherlands, according to AleaSoft.
