European Spark & Clean Spark Spread Calculator

Calculate the theoretical gross margin of gas- and coal-fired power plants. Designed for traders and analysts working with TTF, EUA and European power prices.

Market Prices

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Power price can be loaded live (day-ahead). Gas, EUA and coal remain manual — paste current market levels.

Power price €/MWh

Day-ahead price via euenergy.live (free)

Gas price (TTF) €/MWh

Carbon (EUA) €/tCO₂

Coal price €/MWh thermal

Rough conversion from API2: divide $/t by ~6.5–7

Plant Parameters

Gas efficiency %

Coal efficiency %

Gas emission factor tCO₂/MWh_e

Auto-updates from efficiency (≈ 0.202 ÷ η)

Coal emission factor tCO₂/MWh_e

Variable O&M €/MWh

Results

Spark Spread

Power − Gas cost − VOM

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Clean Spark Spread

Spark − Carbon cost

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Dark Spread

Power − Coal cost − VOM

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Clean Dark Spread

Dark − Carbon cost

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Cost breakdown (gas plant)

Gas cost—

Carbon cost—

Variable O&M—

Total variable cost—

Implied heat rate—

Feature requests & feedback

Suggest a new feature, report a bug, or just share feedback. Live prices, more markets, multi-plant comparison, API access, etc. — all ideas welcome.

Opens X with a pre-filled post tagging @EnergyFrontierX. No account required on this site.

Formulas

Spark SpreadPower − (Gas Price ÷ Efficiency) − VOM

Clean Spark SpreadSpark − (Carbon Price × Emission Factor)

Dark SpreadPower − (Coal Price ÷ Efficiency) − VOM

Emission factor (auto)≈ 0.202 tCO₂/MWh_th ÷ Efficiency

Efficiency is entered as a percentage and converted to a decimal (58 → 0.58). The gas emission factor uses a standard approximation of 0.202 tCO₂ per MWh thermal (LHV). Adjust it for plant-specific values. This tool is for indicative analysis only.