Day-ahead electricity prices across eastern Southeast Europe eased towards €160/MWh for Sept. 26 delivery, but sharp intraday swings continued, with prices ranging from almost zero to above €250/MWh. The volatility highlights the growing commercial value of batteries and other flexible assets.
Hungary cleared at around €161.2/MWh, while Romania reached approximately €162/MWh. Bulgaria settled at €160.6/MWh and Greece at close to €160/MWh.
The decline came after several regional markets recorded day-ahead prices above €213-220/MWh a day earlier, pointing to a significant short-term easing in wholesale power prices.
However, daily baseload averages masked much larger hourly price movements, particularly during periods of strong solar generation and later evening demand.
Hungarian and Romanian prices dropped to around €0.70/MWh during solar-heavy afternoon hours before rising to approximately €251/MWh later in the day.
Greece also saw prices fall to around €2/MWh during the cheapest hours, while Bulgaria traded at approximately €15/MWh.
In Hungary, the cheapest three-hour period averaged only about €10.7/MWh, compared with roughly €228/MWh during the three most expensive hours.
For investors, this price spread is becoming increasingly important. Storage assets can benefit from buying electricity during low-price periods and selling it when prices rise, rather than relying on consistently high wholesale prices.
The Sept. 26 market profile illustrates this opportunity clearly. Low midday prices and strong evening prices create conditions in which batteries can potentially capture value from short-term volatility.
Rapid solar expansion across Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece is putting downward pressure on midday prices, while limited storage capacity and the availability of dispatchable generation continue to support higher prices during periods of evening scarcity.
Pumped-storage hydropower, flexible demand and shaped power purchase agreements (PPAs) can also benefit from increasingly pronounced intraday price differences.
For solar generators, however, the trend presents a growing challenge. Producing large volumes of electricity during the cheapest hours of the day can push capture prices well below daily baseload averages, putting pressure on merchant revenues unless output can be stored or sold through alternative contractual structures.
The regional power market is therefore becoming increasingly divided between low-value and high-value hours. Average electricity prices may moderate, while electricity delivered at the right time can continue to command a substantial premium.
For storage investors, the intraday price spread may consequently matter more than the headline baseload price.
