Low demand and high supply: French spot prices fall

From Monday to Friday, there was relatively little wind in Northwest Europe, pushing up the residual demand. At the same time, we see the price spread between France on one hand, and the Netherlands and Germany on the other, decreasing significantly: the average spread between the Netherlands and France was over 20 euros last week. Throughout 2024, it hadn’t exceeded 12 euros. France has been experiencing above-average temperatures in the last 2 weeks, keeping power demand relatively low. Additionally, there are enough nuclear power plants available to supply power. France exports a lot of electricity to neighboring countries but continues to import electricity from Spain. During the weekend The Netherlands generated relatively large volumes of renewable power, which was being exported via Belgium to France. On Saturday, prices remained equal to 0 €/MWh for 8 consecutive hours in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and France.
The average Dutch baseload spot price was 63.7 €/MWh, more or less equal to the previous week’s baseload price. The average was significantly pushed down by the weekend, where the average price was 28 €/MWh. The day-ahead gas price increased by about 2 euros last week, reaching 27.6 €/MWh.
Gas prices for the coming months increased by approximately one euro. April, May, and June all closed just below 28 €/MWh. Coal prices also increased by about a euro and remained around 100 €/MWh. CO2 became 2 euros more expensive, reaching 61.5 €/EUA by the end of the week.

Prices moved slightly higher for 2025. Gas became a euro more expensive, closing at 31.2 €/MWh. CO2 increased by 2 euros and ended the week at 63.8 €/EUA. The Dutch power contract barely moved and ended at 76.1 €/MWh. The spark spread fell to -6 €/MWh. The dark spread for next year was approximately -17 €/MWh.