The electricity market followed a different pattern than usual this week. The EPEX recorded the lowest price not during the weekend, but on Thursday and Friday. The distribution of production from renewable sources was far from even. In addition, a test has been started on heating homes with hydrogen, as an alternative to the heat pump.
In contrast to other weeks, the electricity price has hardly fallen. On Tuesday, November 21, electricity traded for €122,42 per megawatt hour. Remarkably, the electricity price did not reach the lowest price of the week on Sunday, but on Friday, November 24, at €84,72. As of Sunday, the EPEX was above €100 again.
The high electricity price this weekend is directly due to low yields from renewable electricity. There was a slight decline in solar and wind energy production on Saturday. On Sunday, productivity fell much more sharply. In total, production fell by about a factor of three from Saturday to Sunday.
This does not mean that little renewable energy was produced. In total, 46,4% of the electricity came from solar and wind. In total, 40,4% of the energy was generated by wind turbines. In addition, about 6% of all electricity is still generated by solar collectors. However, production did not appear to be distributed evenly over the week. Because production was high on Thursday and Friday, the gas price was lower than usual on those days. The electricity price is usually high on these days, as the industrial demand for electricity is strong on those days.
Transition
In addition, the first Dutch test of heating houses with green hydrogen has started. In the Groningen village of Wagenborgen, 33 homes will be removed from the natural gas network and connected to a Hydrogen Receiving Station (WOS) at Eelshuis Energie. In the village, grid operator Enexis is investigating whether it is possible to use existing natural gas pipelines to transport hydrogen to consumers.
This could be an important step in getting off the gas. Calculations by Dutch New Energy Research show that Dutch electricity demand will increase by 2030 petajule (1 million kWh) in 277,78. Although this is a relatively small increase (Dutch electricity consumption was about 2021 petajules in 3.000), the increase does not bode well for the overcrowded electricity grid.