Current expectations and actual values for the clean spark spread: The case of Spain in the Covid-19 crisis

The Covid-19 crisis has had a major impact on electricity markets, affecting power plant input and output prices. In this paper Spanish electricity and natural gas prices and international carbon prices are used to calculate the variable margin of natural gas combined cycles (NGCC), i.e. the Clean Spark Spread (CSS). The stochastic behavior of the CSS is modeled using an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) process because of its properties. The expected first semester 2020 CSS results based on the fitted model with daily 2016-2019 data, taking the end of 2019 as a starting point, are compared with the actual figures for the same period. In the first half of 2020 electricity and natural gas prices are significantly lower than expected at the end of 2019, but carbon allowance prices have decreased less in percentage terms. The monthly CSS values in the first half of 2020 are significantly lower than expected for March-May 2020, with the April value being -(sic)4.15/WWh lower figure than the (sic)7.16/MWh expected. This work calculates distributions of daily and monthly CSS values. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study calculates the variable margin of natural gas combined cycles using Spanish electricity and natural gas prices and international carbon prices, and compares the expected Clean Spark Spread (CSS) results for the first half of 2020 with the actual figures. It was found that electricity and natural gas prices were significantly lower than expected, while carbon allowance prices decreased less in percentage terms.