South-East European day-ahead electricity prices stayed elevated on Friday, with a split between higher-priced Central European and Italian corridors and a lower-priced Serbian zone. The regional benchmark HUPX settled at €123.26/MWh, nearly unchanged from the previous day. Slovenia reached €125.40/MWh, Croatia traded at €119.61/MWh, and Romania at €116.24/MWh.
Bulgaria and Greece converged at €115.64/MWh, while Italy remained the most expensive market at €148.43/MWh. Serbia was the clear regional discount at €106.01/MWh. SEEPEX was about €17.25/MWh below HUPX and more than €42/MWh below Italy.
Intraday swings in Serbia and solar-driven spreads
The Serbian market showed the strongest intraday volatility, with SEEPEX falling to €20/MWh at hour 14 before rising to €208.10/MWh at hour 21. The near-€188/MWh intraday spread was linked to midday solar surpluses and evening scarcity after photovoltaic output falls. This pattern was reflected in the hour-by-hour movement of the Serbian benchmark.
Demand, generation mix and cross-border flows
Regional electricity demand increased slightly to 31,291 MW. Net imports declined to 658 MW, down from 899 MW a day earlier. Total generation remained close to 30.6 GW.
Wind output rose by about 584 MW to 1,771 MW, partly offsetting a 520 MW fall in hydro generation to 4,871 MW. Solar stayed strong at 6,302 MW, while coal was at 6,348 MW, gas at 4,521 MW, and nuclear at 5,579 MW.
Bulgaria exports surplus power into the region
Bulgaria acted as the principal regional exporter, generating around 5,112 MW against consumption of 3,660 MW. That left a net surplus of approximately 1,453 MW. Bulgarian exports averaged about 795 MW towards Romania.
Bulgaria also exported around 280 MW towards Serbia, 274 MW towards Greece, and 170 MW towards North Macedonia. Stable nuclear generation of about 1,895 MW, together with close to 1 GW of solar, kept Bulgarian prices below Hungary and supported convergence with Greece.
Narrowing Romania deficit and Hungary import position
Narrowing Romania deficit and Hungary import position (continued)
The Romanian deficit narrowed to about