Today was the 17^th consecutive day on which both the German peak and base day-ahead prices remained below four cents, a new record streak going back probably to the early 2000s, when the wholesale price was regularly at that low level.

(charts)

The difference between French and German prices today is striking, but it is also Bastille Day today, a public holiday in France. But we do not have to look far to find similar days with a great discrepancy between the two countries.

On Wednesday, July 9, for instance, prices in France were once again only half as great as in Germany, and there was no public holiday in France. As French grid operator RTE shows, the country exported up to 10 GW of power at a time that day. The French were therefore dumping a lot of electricity on neighboring countries at a loss. Nonetheless, nuclear plants were not at a particularly low level, peaking above 47 GW for most of the day. Perhaps the large amount of hydropower helps explain this outcome