Spot electricity prices in South-East Europe rose in week 24 compared to the previous week, as a result of higher power prices in Germany and France, driven by higher gas and EUA prices. HU-DE price spread amounted to 1.2 euros/MWh, compared to 0.26 euros/MWh in the previous week.
The total export of the region reached 1.735 MW. Despite 2,000 MW more exports to Austria and Slovakia than last week, this export came in late week. The first three days had negative exports and a high” HU-DE spread. HUPX settled below EPEX-DE in two days.
The low HU-DE spread was also contributed by very high Austrian exports. EPEX-AT was most of the time settling below EPEX-DE, but also much lower imports of Greece, as gas-fired generation sharply rose. The rise of the absolute price level was a result of the rise of spot natural gas prices and EUA prices. The average gas price was some 7.5 euros/MWh higher than in the past week, while EUA was traded at some 7 euros/t higher on average.
Still, HUPX was closely following EPEX-DE price and was even frequently settling below EPEX-DE in the last days of the week – as a result of strong SEE exports toward Austria and Slovakia – helped by 650 MW NPP Cernavoda unit coming back to operation, rising strong hydro generation but also rising revenues of gas-fired units. In the early week, HUPX was settling above EPEX-DE, as wind generation was very low, but also gas-fired generation was low due to negative revenues. The Greek market was the cheapest and had a high spike in gas-fired generation, as Greek spot gas prices were much lower than CWE prices.
