Weekly average electricity prices increased in most major European markets during the second week of December, according to analysis from AleaSoft Energy Forecasting.

The Spanish consultancy noted price increases in the Belgian, British, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish markets compared to the previous week.

The exception was the Nordic market, which saw a 0.7% week-on-week decrease and continued to have the lowest average price of the week, at €45.17/MWh.

The other analyzed markets all had averages in excess of €120/MWh, with the German market overtaking the Italian market to have the highest average of last week, at €176.85/MWh.

AleaSoft attributed the price increases to a jump in electricity demand, which was noted in all analyzed markets except the Spanish market, as well as a decrease in wind energy production. Gas prices fell slightly compared to last week but still remained over €41/MWh for one of the higher results of the year.

During the third week of December, AleaSoft said prices will fall across most European electricity markets, influenced by increased wind energy production and falling demand in most markets.

Meanwhile, solar energy production increased in Italy, Portugal and Spain last week. These three countries each broke their records for solar energy production during a day in December. Spain recorded 90 GWh on December 10, Portugal hit 12 GWh on both Dec. 9 and Dec. 10 and Italy reached 44 GWh on Dec. 12.

AleaSoft said it expects solar energy production to increase during the third week of December in Germany, Italy and Spain.