Nordic & European power market

Negative prices, hydrological balance and German bidding zones: Important trends to look for New weather forecasts and peace-talks developments have been at the centre of Nordic power markets in the past few days, while German parties struggle to find an agreement on the country’s bidding zones. A bearish trend has been observed in electricity futures markets, as buyers reacted to positive news on the expected hydrological balance in the Nordic area. Several sources pointed to a wetter weather in the coming two weeks, with reservoirs already above normal levels and much higher compared to 2024 and 2023 (Montel, 2025). An overview of Norwegian water reservoir captures a shared phenomenon with Sweden and to a lesser extent Finland (Nordpool, 2025).  Additionally, the drop in gas futures due to an optimistic feeling towards the Russia-Ukraine conflict may have slightly contributed to such reductions. The bearish reaction has not been limited to the front-month contract but to the seco...

"Norgespris", US LNG and peace talks: what is happening? Future evolution of European power prices has seen rising uncertainty as global and local politics shake gas and electricity markets. Significant volatility has been following the ongoing peace talks on the war in Ukraine, while Donald Trump’s aggressive policy has contributed to the creation of new fears about liquefied natural gas exports restrictions.  Some analysts have warned about LNG becoming a political weapon and the risk of a new dependency on foreign energy sources (Montel, 2025), which is extremely relevant as gas power still plays a major role in several european countries as Italy and Germany. In the latter, such concerns seem to further sustain the renewed support for european nuclear power as a mean of larger regional independence, in line with the recently elected government’s new political agenda. Some analysts mentioned the whole market being pretty unsettled , given additional concerns about power pr...

Anywhere or somewhere ? When wind farms hit too close to home  As Norway pushes for the green shift and renewable energy, public opinion on projects like onshore wind power remains divided. However, while the national support is evenly split, the local opposition is far stronger. A recent study by psychology professors Pål and Brage Kraft, investigating public opinion on national onshore wind power development (Kraft & Kraft, 2025), reveals that the opposition is not only widespread but also very emotionally based (more difficult to affect through information campaigns), making it harder to gain support for any future projects.  Even though the public opinion on land-based wind farms is evenly split, the opposition grows significantly when turbines are planned near people’s homes, possibly reflecting the “ Not in my backyard ” phenomenon (Motavalli, 2021) . While many support renewable energy and the green shift from a general point of view, they often oppose changes that...