Europe's energy sector is bracing for a volatile winter as regulatory interventions, strategic asset sales, and surging infrastructure investments collide across the continent, RBC Capital Markets strategists said in a note on Wednesday.
Iberdrola is preparing to sell about a 49% stake in its East Anglia Two offshore wind project in the UK, seeking infrastructure, sovereign wealth, and pension fund partners for about 5 billion euros in development. Iberdrola expects to distribute marketing materials to potential investors in the coming weeks.
Spain is weighing measures to curb a potential surge in wholesale electricity prices this winter as higher natural-gas costs threaten to push power prices sharply higher. RBC analysts said Spain is considering reviving the so-called Iberian exception, which capped gas prices for power generation during the 2022 energy crisis, amid projections that gas could reach 105 euros a megawatt-hour and electricity 189 euros/MWh.
Meanwhile, Spain's data-center ambitions are adding pressure on the government to soften proposed regulations for the rapidly expanding industry. Major companies including ACS, Iberdrola, Naturgy, Solaria and Acciona have established subsidiaries or entered projects tied to data centers. SpainDC estimates that a continuity scenario could generate 66.9 billion euros in cumulative direct and indirect investment between 2026 and 2030, while a restrictive regulatory framework could cut that investment by about 36%.
Elsewhere, France is unlikely to fill its gas-storage facilities much beyond the legally required 85% level before winter, RBC said, citing the CEO of Terega. The company expects France could become more reliant on US liquefied natural gas and Norwegian gas during a cold winter but does not anticipate supply shortages.