The electricity price fell sharply at the end of the week. Due to the large production of renewable energy, the electricity price fell sharply at the end of the week. In addition, the French nuclear power plants continue to occupy the mind. Because the discovery of cracks in three reactors threatens to take longer for maintenance.
The electricity price fell sharply last week. On Tuesday, March 7, the price on the EPEX was €123,17. On Wednesday, March 8, the price was slightly higher and electricity was traded for €139,15 per megawatt hour. Then the price fell sharply. On March 13, the electricity price was €42,37.
The production of renewable energy managed to make its mark on the electricity market last week. A fair amount of renewable energy was generated over the entire week. The percentage of wind energy was not very high last week at 17,5%, but a large number of hours of sunshine compensated for the relatively low wind power. About 10,9% of all Dutch electricity was generated from solar energy. This is a pretty high percentage for March.
Yet renewable energy turned out to be decisive for the development of the electricity price. The amount of renewable energy that was generated varied considerably from day to day. For example, at the beginning of last week relatively little energy was generated from sun and wind. Production increased sharply from Friday, resulting in a lot of virtually free electricity entering the grid. Production was particularly high yesterday (Monday, March 13), data shows, and the large production from renewable sources pushed down the electricity price. Both solar and wind energy production were high that day. Around noon, solar and wind energy managed to meet almost all of the Dutch energy demand.
French nuclear power plants are causing tension
In addition, new problems surrounding French nuclear power stations are emerging, the French nuclear watchdog (ASN) reports. Earlier this year, almost half of all French reactors were already out of order for maintenance. Due to the corona pandemic, maintenance at several power stations was postponed, resulting in many reactors being taken offline at the same time.
Most nuclear power stations are now active again, but in recent weeks the French nuclear sector has suffered a number of setbacks. On Wednesday, March 8, ASN discovered a large crack in a reactor at the Seine-Martime power plant and this turned out not to be the only power plant that required additional maintenance. The French nuclear watchdog found smaller cracks in two reactors on Thursday, March 9, namely reactor 2 at Penly and reactor 3 at the Cattenom power station. Although the maintenance of the reactors will take longer than expected, the mass shutdown will not occur this winter. However, the limited capacity of French nuclear power plants could affect the European electricity market. Due to the shutdown of the reactors, France is less able to supply cheap emergency power.