Day-ahead electricity prices across eastern Southeast Europe eased back towards €160/MWh for Sept. 26 delivery, while intraday levels still ranged from near zero to more than €250/MWh. The latest profile shows large hourly variation across Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. Average levels moved lower compared with the previous day’s higher pricing.
Hungary cleared at about €161.2/MWh, Romania around €162/MWh, Bulgaria at €160.6/MWh and Greece close to €160/MWh. The decline followed prices above roughly €213-220/MWh in several markets a day earlier. Baseload averages therefore did not reflect the full range of hourly outcomes.
Intraday extremes and the role of charging and discharging windows
In Hungary and Romania, electricity prices fell to around €0.70/MWh during solar-heavy afternoon periods before rising to roughly €251/MWh later in the day. Greek prices dropped to about €2/MWh during the cheapest hours, while Bulgaria traded near €15/MWh. The spread between low and high price periods was highlighted by a three-hour comparison in Hungary.
For Hungary, the cheapest three-hour window averaged roughly €10.7/MWh, compared with about €228/MWh during the most expensive three hours. That difference is presented as a key metric for investors assessing value across time rather than relying on daily averages. Batteries are described as depending on sufficiently cheap charging hours and sufficiently expensive discharging hours.
Solar-driven midday weakness and evening scarcity premiums
The Sept. 26 price profile is linked to rapid solar expansion across Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, which depresses prices around midday. Limited storage and dispatchable capacity are associated with strong evening scarcity premiums later in the day. Pumped hydro, flexible demand and shaped PPAs are described as gaining similar value from the volatility.
The same conditions are described as more challenging for solar generators because producing during the cheapest hours can lower capture prices below daily baseload averages. This can weaken merchant revenues unless generation can be stored or contracted differently. The regional market is characterized as becoming increasingly bifurcated between average outcomes and hour-specific value.
Average electricity prices may fall while the value of power delivered at the right hour remains exceptionally high. For storage investors, that distinction is described as more important than the baseload number. The reported figures focus on Sept. 26 delivery across the four markets.