In the fifth week of January 2025, electricity market prices in Southeast Europe (SEE) experienced a decline due to stable electricity demand and an increase in wind energy production. All SEE markets saw price reductions, with two-digit decreases, except Italy. Romania and Hungary experienced the highest percentage drops in electricity prices at -23.41% and -23.31%, respectively. Croatia and Serbia followed, with decreases of -20.81% and -17.99%. Italy and Türkiye had the smallest reductions, at -7.81% and -2.06%, respectively.
The last week of January 2025 saw a decrease in weekly average spot electricity prices in Central Europe, with lower gas prices, milder temperatures, and increased wind and solar energy contributing to lower European electricity market prices. Despite this, prices remained above €100/MWh, except for France and the Iberian countries. Wind energy production increased across most major European markets, reversing the declines of the previous week. In Central Europe, prices ranged from €91–139/MWh, with Switzerland being the most expensive market at €139.10/MWh, although it was 9% lower than the previous week. Slovakia followed at €132.40/MWh, and France was the cheapest at €90.57/MWh, down 19.93% from the previous week.
In the same week, European electricity prices traded around €119/MWh, with prices ranging from €63.33/MWh in Portugal to €141.95/MWh in Italy. The MIBEL market had notably lower prices, with Portugal at €63.33/MWh and Spain at €63.68/MWh, both seeing reductions of more than 38%. On a daily basis, most markets saw their lowest prices at the beginning of the week, with prices gradually increasing as the week progressed. In southern Europe, all SEE countries, except Türkiye, registered prices above €125/MWh. Türkiye had the lowest price at an average of €68.33/MWh, followed by Greece, which had the second-lowest price in the SEE region at €127.81/MWh. Italy saw the highest average price for the week at €141.95/MWh, a 17.45% decrease from the previous week. Hungary followed as the second-most expensive market in SEE at €131.23/MWh.
Most SEE electricity markets reached their highest prices on Friday, January 31. On that day, Italy and Romania recorded their highest daily prices at €151.38/MWh and €142.89/MWh, respectively. In terms of demand, SEE electricity demand decreased across most markets, except for Greece and Türkiye, which saw slight increases. Europe is expected to experience above-normal temperatures in February, helping to ease heating demand after a winter that drained Europe’s gas inventories more quickly than usual. As a result, total SEE electricity demand decreased by 3.29% compared to the previous week, totaling 17,260.75 GWh. Hungary recorded the largest decline in demand at -11.00%, followed by Romania at -7.54% and Serbia at -7.24%. Italy, Bulgaria, and Croatia experienced smaller declines of -5.17%, -3.29%, and -2.32%, respectively.
In terms of renewable energy production, output from wind and solar sources surged by 19.7% in SEE markets, reaching 1,395.98 GWh. Wind generation increased by 11.2%, totaling 916.03 GWh, while solar output jumped by 40.3%, reaching 479.95 GWh. Hungary, Greece, and Türkiye saw the highest increases in solar energy production at 129.8%, 38.6%, and 41.7%, respectively. Meanwhile, hydropower output decreased by 15.41% across the region, totaling 1,450.64 GWh, with declines in Bulgaria, Serbia, Türkiye, and Romania. On the other hand, Hungary and Greece saw increases in hydropower production by 23.14% and 0.59%, respectively.
Thermal power generation also decreased by 5.83%, with coal-fired generation down by 2.95% and gas-fired generation down by 8.97%. Türkiye saw a slight increase in coal-fired generation by 0.87%, while gas-fired generation dropped by 7.77%. Greece and Bulgaria both saw significant declines in lignite and gas generation by -19.98% and -12.87%, respectively. In terms of cross-border electricity trade, net imports in the SEE region increased by 1.74% to 1,462.33 GWh. Net exports from the region grew by 15.5%, reaching 278.55 GWh. Italy experienced a 25.14% increase in net imports, while Croatia, Hungary, and Romania saw decreases in net imports by -37.83%, -27.83%, and -26.89%, respectively. Türkiye maintained its position as an exporter with a 5.32% increase in net exports. Greece also increased its exporting activity, exporting 122.37 GWh, and Bulgaria exported 68.19 GWh, up by 66.53% compared to the previous week.
