Electricity Europe

Europe's electricity markets were buffeted between mid-February and mid-May, with the EU parliament’s decision to vote against the emissions market backloading proposal in April the most widespread factor resulting in forward curves across the continent falling in value. To some extent this offset the increases that had crept down the curves as a late winter cold snap struck the continent in March, triggering a spike on short-term contracts that pulled longer-dated products higher.

The UK introduced the world’s first carbon price floor for power generators on 1 April, which supported power prices and drove a widening of the spread between the UK and mainland European markets.

Front-year prices in Germany sank to their lowest on record, reflecting the sustained build-out of renewable power generation in Europe’s largest electricity market. The French market was less affected by the decline of emissions values because of the country’s low-carbon generation mix. The markets of central and eastern Europe, meanwhile, were bearish, driven primarily by extremely well-supplied hydropower systems and waning demand.  

Updated to mid-May 2013