Belgian electricity price tops €1,000 as heatwave batters Europe

Belgian Electricity Price Surpasses €1,000 During Unprecedented June Heatwave

A record-breaking heatwave gripping western Europe has driven Belgian electricity prices to their highest level ever recorded, with quarter-hourly spot prices surpassing €1,000 per megawatt-hour as cooling demand surged and generation sources struggled to keep pace.

Record Prices Across Multiple Markets

Belgium set a new all-time high for the quarter-hourly electricity price at €1,038.25 per megawatt-hour for the 15-minute time slot starting at 8:45 p.m. CET, according to data from energy market intelligence provider Montel. The Netherlands also reached a new quarter-hour record of €902.47/MWh, while Germany hit €747.10/MWh and Denmark’s DK1 bidding zone rose to €786.83/MWh during the same evening period. Wholesale electricity prices in Belgium had already climbed to €658.09/MWh earlier, the highest level since December 2022.brusselstimes

The price spikes occurred during the evening peak, when solar power generation declines rapidly while temperatures and cooling demand remain elevated. Germany’s residual load — the portion of electricity demand not covered by wind and solar — rose to 51.5 GW, approximately 10.4 GW above the typical level for that time of day and year.pv-magazine

A Perfect Storm of Supply and Demand

The extreme heat has simultaneously increased electricity consumption and reduced generation capacity. Combined-cycle gas turbines lose between 0.5% and 0.9% of output for every additional degree Celsius, while solar panel efficiency also drops at elevated temperatures. Montel noted that the combination of fading solar output at dusk and persistently high cooling demand “forced markets to rely on increasingly expensive generation sources to maintain the balance between supply and demand”.pv-magazine

The crisis compounds an already stressed European energy market. The Strait of Hormuz disruption earlier this year sent gas prices sharply higher, with wholesale gas prices in Europe rising roughly 70% since the start of the Middle East conflict. The European Commission warned that the effects of the Hormuz crisis would last longer than expected, and even a potential reopening of the strait would not resolve Europe’s underlying vulnerability to expensive natural gas, according to Chatham House.brusselstimes

Outlook Remains Grim

The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute expects the heatwave to persist across Central and Western Europe into the first days of July. France remains on red alert, and forecasters have predicted “severe” weather impacts across the continent. With temperatures forecast to climb yet higher in coming days, further price spikes appear likely, raising questions about the resilience of Europe’s power grid at a time when multiple energy crises are converging.nytimes