Nuclear energy is a really thorny issue in Europe. 24% of the continent supply comes from this particular energy source thanks to France, although countries like Sweden and others outside the EU as the United Kingdom begin to hug. Even Germany is giving a 180 degree turn to its energy policy. Only Spain are already taking almost definitive steps to complete the total abandonment of this form of energy. While the fission debate is still very present, Europe has taken steps towards the nuclear rebirth including it as ‘green energy’ and promoting its adoption from Brussels. In 2024 the EU countries voted to triple their production capacity for the coming years.
While these long -term objectives are still present, France is being committed to cutting production while plants in Spain are having to stop their activity promptly due to the production of renewable energy and the fall in demand for Holy Week. What is now being lived with the centrals is one of the ‘contraindications’ that has brought the double path that the continent travels: the clash between nuclear and renewable energy.
According to the data of the International Energy Agency, the cost of solar energy in the US was $ 1.7 per kilowatt. In the case of nuclear this was between $ 6.95 and $ 7.5. In the absence of concrete figures in Europe, the institution illustrates with this the difference between both electricity generation formulas and the problem that arises in wholesale markets. The nuclear production of electricity did not enter the daily auctions of Spain because the demand was covered with cheaper energies, The renewables.
But what is the point that the entire energy system does not turn to renewable sources? From Lazard they explain that the key is that these energy sources “do not have sufficient storage capacity” to maintain an electrical system and need a source that can regularly contribute energy.
This dynamic places in a strange situation to the nuclear because its use has that meaning within a market that wants to ‘disconnect’ from fossil fuels, but Live in a market in which the abrupt changes of prices that renewable bring their profitability and cause important distortionss.
The solar threat
This is what is happening right now, with solar energy living a vigorous awakening that is causing large variations in the market. According to the latest Ember’s records, solar production in Europe shot 32% during the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period of the previous year. The total generation amounted to 68 Teravatios time and its weight in the system climbed up to 8.2%.
Faced with this reality, France has had to do how the production of its centrals was reduced. From the Gallic sector they are carrying the chaos for the planning of the powerful activity of the renewables. In an EDF report, Jean Casabianca, General Inspector of Nuclear Safety and Radiological Protection comments that “unpredictability and brevity of these strong modulations disturb the planning of activities, programmed maintenance and periodic tests.”
In Sweden, Where nuclear energy represents approximately 30% of the country’s electricity, they also talk about this issue. The state operator Vattenfall AB declared in its sustainability report of 2024 that the reactors “They face greater competence of renewable production“And that nuclear central owners now routinely adjust production if prices fall below the cost of production.
In Spain, Almaraz and chest nuclear power plants have made the historical decision to stop the operation. Interestingly, it has not been for solar energy, but for wind and hydroelectric that fired production thanks to the storm that hit the Iberian Peninsula. From a nuclear forum they explain that the causes are similar and have occurred because “its offer has not been married in the wholesale market due to the low -sustained low prices scenario as a consequence of the decrease in demand, the high renewable penetration of the next few days and the disproportionate tax burden that ballasts its costs.”
In the Iberian country, electricity prices in the wholesale market have fallen to 4.23 euros per megavatio hour, a 67% decrease so far this year. Of course, it is still more expensive than last year for these dates, when it quoted at 31 euros. Same situation in Germany, where prices have fallen by 35% in the year and 3% compared to last year. In France, 14.46% have fallen to 10.1 euros the megavatio hour.
The strong point of nuclear
The Spanish Pro Nuclear Association explains that “nuclear energy remains essential for the firmness and stability of the system, despite these specific market scenarios. External conditions make the generation with renewable energy very variable, hence to continuously maintain the proper functioning of the system it is necessary to have a constant power.” It must be remembered that in 2024 20% of the electricity generation was of nuclear origin.
The variation in prices with renewable energy is a serious threat to future projects. According to the latest AIE report and the European Commission, the profitability threshold so that it is profitable to open a reactor is between the 80s and 110 euros per megavatio hour. In the case of Spain so that this is profitable, the megavatio hour must exceed between 35 and 50 euros.
“Renewable energies will probably have a much greater impact on European nuclear operations in the coming months than in the past,” said Staffan Bergh, head of Bodecker Partners AB analysis, Bloomberg. “We are going to see many more hours with negative prices and will only increase during spring.”
However, this has not stopped the multiple countries that consider nuclear as the future to protect themselves from geopolitical winds such as the Ukraine War or the commercial conflict with Trump. Proof of this is that Belgium has abolished the law of nuclear disconnection, something paradigmatic because this country was one of the most advanced in denuclearization with the objective for 2025. And it is no longer only that it does not abandon it, but has chosen to double its capacity. They also continue to support her, Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic and Sweden. France on the other hand is immersed in a plan to update its entire fleet. However, this, more than an expansion plan is an update of the infrastructure that he raised in the eighties and that today is beginning to age worryingly.
In an EU statement in the Repowereu Plan, the European Commission explains that it wants to maintain nuclear as one of the pillars because “the need to guarantee a stable and continuous supply before the intermittency of other sources, makes it an essential complementary technology to guarantee the stability of the system.” However, within the framework of that role the nuclear has a path full of challenges and, in particular, a thorny coexistence with renewables.
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