European Electricity: End-of-year market review

The winter 2023-24 power season in Europe has started mostly with bearish fundamentals, as hydropower reservoirs have recovered in most regions, French nuclear availability increased significantly from last year and gas storage reached record-high levels. But even as the risk premium subsides and forward electricity prices move down, uncertainty remains over some key areas, including generation availability and border flows.

In this white paper, our European power team analyses some of the main questions impacting the market:

• Is power demand rising back to historic norms across Europe?
• How are renewable and thermal power capacity buildout plans aligning with expectations?
• How are fuels and carbon prices impacting power plant generation economics?
• Which borders are seeing a shift in electricity flows as regional market dynamics evolve?
• Is market liquidity recovering as we move away from extreme high prices and volatility?