Day-ahead electricity prices across eastern Southeast Europe eased back toward €160/MWh for Sept. 26 delivery. Despite the lower averages, intraday prices moved from near zero to above €250/MWh. The same trading session showed large hourly dispersion in multiple markets.
Hungary cleared at about €161.2/MWh, while Romania was around €162/MWh. Bulgaria settled at €160.6/MWh, and Greece closed close to €160/MWh. The decline followed prices above roughly €213-220/MWh in several markets a day earlier.
Hourly price extremes during solar-heavy periods
The baseload averages masked much larger hourly moves across the region. 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.
In Hungary, the cheapest three-hour window averaged roughly €10.7/MWh. The most expensive three hours averaged about €228/MWh. The difference between those windows is highlighted as the key spread for market participants.
Storage and flexible demand value from the Sept. 26 profile
The Sept. 26 price pattern supports charging during low-price hours and discharging during high-price hours. Rapid solar expansion across Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece is linked to lower prices around midday. Limited storage and dispatchable capacity are associated with stronger evening scarcity premiums.
Pumped hydro, flexible demand and shaped PPAs are described as benefiting from the same volatility. For solar generators, producing during the cheapest hours can push capture prices below daily baseload averages, which can weaken merchant revenues unless generation is stored or contracted differently. The regional market is described as becoming increasingly bifurcated as average levels move down while peak-hour value remains elevated.
For storage investors, the distinction between low-price charging hours and high-price discharging hours is presented as more important than the baseload number for that delivery profile.