On an annual basis, this average price reached 31.9 euros in 2020, compared to 243.8 in 2022, 96.7 in 2023 and 69.7 last year.
Negative prices are also observed more and more often. They appeared 4.6% of the time in 2024 (2.5% in 2023), during periods with less consumption (during holidays or weekends) and a lot of production. “Faced with the significant arrival of renewable production in the coming years, price developments should become even more volatile,” predicts Elia.
International trade with neighboring countries was also higher than ever with more than 44.5 TWh exchanged, including 12.6 TWh of net imports from France. These cross-border trades took place mainly at times when electricity was cheaper abroad.
With 23% additional installed capacity, photovoltaics are breaking numerous records. Its total production was 8,322 GWh in 2024, according to Elia data as of December 29 inclusive, i.e. 15.7% more than for the year 2023. Last August became the most productive month in electricity from photovoltaics with 1,254 GWh produced.
Overall, renewable production in Belgium reached 29.8% of the electricity mix (28.2% in 2023), again a record. Offshore wind produced 6,987 GWh of electricity last year, less than the year 2023 during which wind conditions were exceptional and a record for offshore wind production was broken with 8,011 GWh produced, underlines Elia.
Gas production stood at a historically low level: 17.6% of the production mix, compared to 25.2% in 2023 and 26.9% in 2022.
The nuclear share in the electricity production mix is 42.2% and is decreasing for the fourth consecutive year. The decline in this area is, however, less significant than in 2023 (closure of Tihange 2) and 2022 (closure of Doel 3). There was no reactor closure in 2024 but Doel 1 (February 15), Doel 2 (December 1) and Tihange 1 (October 1) will shut down in 2025 with a significant impact on nuclear production, further comments Elia.
Electricity consumption, for its part, is slowly rising and has returned above 80.5 TWh (78.9 TWh in 2023).
