Add to that the pressure put on the network by France, which is experiencing problems with its nuclear fleet, and the cocktail is perfect. Sunday, we still paid 433 euros per megawatt hour of electricity at peak times. An amount that might triple this Monday, says Het Nieuwsblad. “This will be the hardest week of the year“, according to traders interviewed by the Flemish media.
Without Doel 4 and Tihange 3, Belgium risks running out of electricity
As a reminder, it is possible that Belgium will also have to import electrons, especially since Tihange 1 will not restart before December 14 at the earliest. However, there is no question of talking regarding a problem in sight in terms of security of supply, we are assured at Elia.
For specialist Matthias Detremmerie, broker at energy supplier Elindus, the week might indeed be the worst of the year. Some scenarios evoke a price of up to 1,500 euros per MWh during the evening peak.
It will be freezing cold for the next few days, with temperatures down to minus five degrees. And that also means that electricity prices will rise sharply. While last month, during peak hours, the average price of electricity was still 238 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), this same price rose to 552 euros per MWh last Thursday. To give an idea: with 1 megawatt hour, you can heat a thousand electric fires for one hour.
