During the week of February 17, electricity demand in major European markets showed a downward trend. The Dutch and British markets saw double-digit declines of 16% and 11%, respectively, reversing the upward trend observed in the previous week. Other markets experienced demand drops ranging from 2.0% in Portugal to 8.0% in France. The Italian market was the exception, with a slight increase in demand of 0.3%, following a decline in the prior week.
These decreases in demand were attributed to a rise in average temperatures. Belgium, the Netherlands, and Great Britain reported temperature increases between 3.8°C and 4.8°C. Portugal had the smallest rise in average temperatures, at 0.6°C. Italy, however, experienced a temperature decrease of 0.8°C, which contributed to the demand increase in the country.
For the week of February 24, according to AleaSoft Energy Forecasting’s projections, demand is expected to rise in the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch markets. Conversely, demand is anticipated to decrease in Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, and the UK, AleaSoft reports.