Despite a strong start to the solar season in Europe, and record amounts of cheap new renewable capacity in Germany since the energy crisis, it’s natural gas that will increasingly decide how much households and factories in Europe’s biggest economy pay for electricity.

In the MoU, the signatories commit to pursuing the path to commercial fusion energy for Hesse and establishing the state as a leading location for cutting-edge research and the development of laser-based nuclear fusion.

There have also been reports that Nord Stream 2 could be taken under new ownership with a view to allowing Russian gas to flow via the undamaged string of the link.

Following five years of stagnation, Germany’s economy is now 5% smaller than it would have been if the pre-pandemic growth trend had been maintained.

The values of the successful bids range from €6.93c/kWh to the maximum permissible value of €7.35c/kWh. The average price stood at €7.15c/kWh, compared to €7.33c/kWh in the previous round.

Next-month futures in Europe’s biggest economy surged as much as 4.4% on Monday to the highest level since October last year. The equivalent contract in France rose 4.3%.

In Germany, where nuclear power has long been a thorny political issue, operators are much less enthusiastic, despite talks of a nuclear restart surfacing in the wake of the German coalition government's recent collapse.

With piped gas supplies cut off after the war, imports of LNG from Moscow increased to around 18 billion cubic meters in 2023 from less than 14 billion cubic meters before the attack, according to EU data.

Production decreased 0.4% in March, led by drops in consumer and intermediate goods, and energy, the statistics office said Wednesday.

The study will be developed as one of the deliverables under the Joint Declaration of Intent (JDoI) of the UK-Germany Hydrogen Partnership, signed on September 26, 2023, between the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).