Why are standard power futures no longer enough?
Europe's power markets are changing. The rapid growth of solar and wind generation is reshaping intraday price patterns, leading to deeper solar-driven price troughs, steeper evening ramps, and increasing differences between weekdays and weekends.
At the same time, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are becoming a critical source of flexibility, creating a growing need for hedging instruments that reflect battery revenues derived from energy arbitrage the spread between low- and high-price hours.
Traditional base and peak futures remain essential risk management tools, but they were not designed to capture these evolving renewable and storage-driven price dynamics.
To meet these evolving risk management needs, EEX is expanding its renewable energy hedging offering with innovative products designed to help market participants hedge the specific exposures created by a more renewable, flexible, and storage-driven power system.
EEX offers a product portfolio to address diverse trading needs in a rapidly changing environment.
Top-to-Bottom (TBx) Power Futures
What do TBx Futures addresss?
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are playing an increasingly critical role in supporting renewable integration and power system flexibility. As BESS revenues are primarily driven by capturing price differentials between low- and high-price hours, otherwise known as “energy arbitrage”, operators require hedging instruments that track these spreads rather than a simple average power price.
TBx Futures are designed to provide direct exposure to the spread between high- and low-price periods. This enables BESS asset owners and operators to more effectively manage price risk and lock in future arbitrage margins.
EEX TBx Futures
The EEX TBx Futures are cash-settled futures contracts referencing the daily spread between the highest and lowest priced Market Time Units (MTU) in the day-ahead auction for a given market area.
Settlement is based on the relevant national day-ahead auction: EPEX SPOT for Germany, France, and Great Britain; GME for Italy; OMIE for Spain.
Two contract variants are available:
| TB2 Futures | TB4 Futures |
|---|---|
| TB2 Futures reference the average of the eight highest minus the average of the eight lowest priced 15-minute MTUs in the day-ahead auction. Available for Germany, France, and Italy. GB TB2 Futures reference the average of the two highest minus the average of the two lowest priced 60-minute MTUs in the day-ahead auction for Great Britain. | TB4 Futures reference the average of the sixteen highest minus the average of the sixteen lowest priced 15-minute MTUs in the day-ahead auction. Available for Italy and Spain. |
TBx Futures Markets
| Contract | Market | Settlement reference | Currency | Maturities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TB2 | Germany | EPEX SPOT DE day-ahead | EUR/MWh | Current +9 months, 11 quarters, 6 years |
| France | EPEX SPOT FR day-ahead | |||
| Italy | GME day-ahead | |||
| TB2 | Great Britain | EPEX SPOT GB 60-min auction | GBP/MWh | Current +9 months, 11 quarters, 6 years |
| TB4 | Italy | GME day-ahead | EUR/MWh | Current +9 months, 11 quarters, 6 years |
| Spain | OMIE day-ahead |
Block Futures
What do Block Futures focus on?
Increasing renewable penetration is driving greater variation in power prices across different hours of the day. As managing shape risk becomes more important, Block Futures provide a precise hedging tool for specific delivery periods, enabling market participants to better manage time-dependent price exposures.
EEX Block Futures
EEX Block Futures are cash-settled futures referencing the arithmetic average of day-ahead prices within defined multi-hour windows. Each block is designed to isolate a specific part of the daily price profile — the solar generation peak, the extended working-day load shape, or the weekend base profile.
Markets: Germany and France
| Block | Window | Days | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEX 12-16 Block Futures (“Solar Block”) | 12:00–16:00 | Mon–Fri | Captures the solar generation midday trough. Weekday midday prices are structurally lower due to solar cannibalisation. |
| EEX 6-22 Block Futures (“Extended Peaks”) | 06:00–22:00 | Mon–Fri | Covers the full working-day load profile, including shoulder hours around the traditional peak window. |
| EEX Base Weekend | 00:00–24:00 | Sat–Sun | Full 24-hour weekend exposure. Weekend load and renewables profiles differ structurally from weekdays. |
| EEX 12-16 Weekend Block Futures (“Weekend Solar Block”) | 12:00–16:00 | Sat–Sun | Solar midday block for weekend days only. |
Established Tools for Renewable Energy Hedging
EEX offers a comprehensive suite of exchange-traded products to help market participants manage renewable energy price risk across different time horizons. From short-term profile management to long-term revenue certainty, these established products provide the foundation of EEX's renewable energy hedging toolkit.
Day & Weekend Futures
Day and Weekend Futures help market participants manage short-term power price exposure. Weekend Futures allow trading of all weekend delivery hours in a single contract, addressing the distinct price profiles that increasingly emerge between weekdays and weekends in renewable-driven power markets.
Year Futures to Cal+10 and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) hedging
EEX offers Calendar Year Base Futures with maturities extending up to ten years ahead across Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Nordic System Price. These contracts enable market participants to hedge long-term price exposure, support Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) risk management, and secure price certainty over the lifetime of renewable investments. All contracts benefit from central clearing via ECC, reducing counterparty risk while maintaining trading flexibility.
A settlement price curve to Cal+10 is published daily for all six market areas, providing ongoing price transparency for PPA valuation and renewable asset assessment. Current settlement prices are available on the EEX Market Data Hub.
Mon-Sun Peak Futures (Spain)
Mon-Sun Peak Futures cover power production from 08:00 to 20:00 across the entire week — Monday to Sunday — for the Spanish power market. Day, Week, Month, Quarter and Calendar Year maturities are available.