France overtook Norway to regain its position as the biggest net exporter of power in Europe in the first half of 2021. France’s total net exports amounted to 21TWh, with most of the power flowing to Great Britain (8.6TWh) and Italy (7.2TWh).
Recent changes in wholesale markets (day-ahead and intraday sessions) coupled with an increase in renewables and interconnector capacity are expected to increase revenue opportunities – and risks – for energy traders.
Looking at the monthly auctions for May 2021, which are hosted via JAO’s trading platform, our latest research shows that the price for capacity on the interconnector to export energy from Belgium to Great Britain was the most expensive in Europe at 19.42€/MW/H.
The planned timeline for ending coal power generation in Germany could cause the country significant challenges as it battles to meet future electricity demand. Coal is currently so strongly entrenched in German energy systems that a total withdrawal of it by this date will need to clear some hurdles
Capacity prices for FCR reached record levels of over € 1.000 per MW per hour due to scarce flexibility. Weekends in Belgium will remain very tricky, at least until the pumped storage plant at Coo will return to service, with nuclear switching off, it will be interesting to see what happens the following weekends.
STOR was re-introduced on April 1 and unlike its previous incarnation, which was tendered for season-long durations, it is based on daily auctions – giving providers the flexibility to optimise on a daily basis between STOR and other market segments.
Prices in the GB electricity market soared at the beginning of this month. The maximum day-ahead price in the market in the first week of March was £683 – more than three times the maximum day-ahead price of £191.55 seen in any day in March in the previous six years.
Britain’s exit from the EU has resulted in reduced trading on the electricity interconnectors between GB & Ireland and increased the frequency of extreme prices although the withdrawal agreement ensured that the SEM would remain intact.
A new ancillary service, dynamic containment, procured by National Grid to manage the frequency of Britain’s electricity system remains undersubscribed more than four months after its launch in October 2020, but is showing its potential as a useful new revenue stream for battery projects.
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