Belgian TSO issues warning about the summer

Last week, wind generation decreased in most countries while solar generation improved towards the end of the week. On Monday evening, prices surged towards 200 €/MWh. Based on spot prices, it can be concluded that from Monday to Friday, gas and coal power plants were largely marginal, except during sunlight hours. However, on Tuesday and Friday, conventional power plants were price-setting even during sunlight hours. The average Dutch spot price last week was 79 €/MWh. The average French spot price was 30 euros higher, at 51 €/MWh. On Thursday, the French network operator announced that it would be more proactive in indicating when there would be export restrictions. France has been net exporting power to neighboring countries for months, but in March and April, RTE restricted export capacities because the French power grid could potentially face problems. It was recently announced that similar restrictions could occur again between August and October. On Friday, Belgian network operator Elia warned that there might be moments during the summer when the supply of power is much greater than the demand. This is likely to happen when demand is low (such as during the weekends) and when solar panels and nuclear plants are generating a lot of power. Belgium is currently importing a lot of power from France and is exporting it to the Netherlands and Germany. Elia also emphasized the need for flexibility in the power market to keep the grid balanced. Gas prices dropped slightly last week, and the contracts for July and August both closed about one and a half euros lower at 33.9 and 34.3 €/MWh. CO2 prices remained stable, closing at 68.1 €/EUA. Dutch power forwards for July and August dropped a little over 2 euros, settling at 67.2 and 71.9 €/MWh respectively.

Weekly changes