European Electricity: Argus Summer 2023 Preview

Summer 2022 was marked by a combination of very low hydropower reservoirs, the French nuclear crisis and record-high gas prices which led up to the unprecedented power price spikes in late August and the swift implementation of a raft of emergency measures across Europe. It is a remarkably different picture this year, with headlines in recent months ranging from sluggish power demand and slow industrial activity to renewed fears of market cannibalisation and negative prices in some countries.

In this white paper, our European power team goes through the outlook for summer 2023 by looking at some of the key questions in the market now:

• What is behind the slow recovery in power demand across Europe?
• How are solar capacity additions impacting the market?
• French nuclear generation is certainly looking better compared with last year, but how much better?
• What is the outlook for hydropower following one of the worst droughts ever last year?
• Is liquidity in forward markets finally recovering now that prices are much lower?