What were the main wholesale electricity trends in 2022?

• The energy crisis combined with a mild winter led to a decrease in electricity consumption, especially during the last quarter of 2022. Demand reduction resulted in lower power generation.
• Although electricity production from renewables remained almost constant, emissions increased due to the rise in coal and gas power generation, and low nuclear production.
• Installed capacity of renewables reached a new record in 2022, while coal-installed capacity decreased. However, the use of coal-fired power plants significantly increased since 2020.
• A sharp increase in day-ahead prices. The post pandemic economic recovery and Russia's invasion of Ukraine dramatically affected gas prices, which led to an increase in electricity prices across the EU.
• Forward markets also reached high price levels in 2022, especially for products for delivery in autumn and winter months.
• Negative day-ahead electricity prices reached pre-2019 levels. This seems to be correlated with demand reduction, as 50% of the negative prices were observed during the last quarter of 2022 and 20% in December alone.

See the ACER’s interactive dashboard for the evolution of generation from renewable energy sources compared to fossil fuels (by selecting the years 2020 and 2022).