Solar eclipse demands extra effort

At the beginning of last week, solar power production was relatively limited in many countries. This changed from Thursday onward, with prices dropping sharply during the afternoon hours. The average price ended up at 87.6 €/MWh.

Prices fell especially over the weekend. Sunday stood out, with ten consecutive hours of negative pricing and a low of -33 €/MWh. On Saturday, a partial solar eclipse occurred, during which solar output was expected to drop for approximately 3 hours. Dutch TSO TenneT had been preparing for this event for months. On Saturday afternoon—where one could expect (very) negative clean spark and dark spreads—very few conventional power plants would have been running. This meant that there would have been limited upward capacity available if solar output had dropped sharply. Neighboring countries had reserved additional capacity to assist if needed. In the Netherlands, a second auction for upward reserve power was held specifically for the three hours during which output was expected to fall. Looking at the day-ahead price curve for that day, the impact was evident: hours 10, 11, and 12 all settled at 59 €/MWh, while hours 13 and 14 ended just above 0 €/MWh.

Gas prices declined last week. The April contract dropped by 2 euros to 40.6 €/MWh. With the end of March approaching, gas storage facilities have not been depleted, but fill levels remain significantly lower than in previous years in most European countries. CO2 prices again followed the trend in gas, falling by nearly 3 euros to 68.8 €/EUA by the end of the week. Coal prices, on the other hand, rose slightly, with contracts for the coming months climbing by 3 to 4 euros to around 93.5 €/Ton. Dutch power for April fell by nearly 5 euros to 74.8 €/MWh. Clean spark spreads for the coming months improved slightly, but remain highly negative.