Production on the rise

"Total renewable energy production during the quarter amounted to 384.9 terawatt-hours (TWh), thanks to record solar production, a recovery in wind production, and solid hydroelectric production," Montel indicated in a statement, which includes in its analysis the countries of the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, and Serbia.

Mitigating the impact of wars

The increase in clean and local electricity production "helped mitigate the impact of the conflict with Iran on wholesale electricity prices, as strong renewable production replaced gas generation, reducing the effect of price spikes observed in gas markets throughout the quarter," it added.

Contributing technologies

The technology that contributed most was wind power, with 173.7 TWh generated in the quarter, a 22% increase from the first quarter of 2025.

Hydropower contributed 128.6 TWh, recovering strongly since the third quarter of 2025, when low rainfall led to a 97.1 TWh drop in production.

Atmospheric conditions

The consultancy added that, in contrast, this winter rainfall has been "unusually abundant," allowing reservoirs to be replenished and production to return to "more usual levels."

Solar production, in turn, continued its "sustained rise," and capacity growth led to quarterly generation reaching 52.6 TWh, the highest level ever recorded for a first quarter and 15% higher than in the same period of the previous year.

"Despite being the highest quarterly volume ever, the proportion of production from renewable energy sources stood at 48.8%, below the equivalent percentage observed in previous quarters," the document added.

This increase can be justified by "cold weather conditions, which raised demand to the highest level since 2022," with a particular impact in Central and Eastern Europe, where average demand for the entire quarter increased by 1.4% compared to 2025.

The Iberian Peninsula was not affected by the cold wave that increased demand in much of Europe, so consumption remained virtually stable year-on-year and coincided with high solar production.

For the second quarter, Montel anticipates a "complex scenario" in which "historic low prices and record evening peaks may coexist, which underlines the structural challenges that the European electricity system faces in this transition phase."