Electricity prices in Germany and France plunged to nearly minus €500 per megawatt-hour on Friday morning, as a perfect storm of record solar output and widespread public holidays sent demand tumbling across the continent.
The price collapse began early on Friday. In Germany and France, the cost of electricity fell to almost minus €500 per megawatt-hour during the first half of the day, according to the Epex Spot exchange.
The simultaneous effect of two factors drove the plunge: solar farms delivered record volumes of power, while public holidays began in most countries of the region. As a result, energy demand dropped sharply.
According to ANE GmbH & Co. KG, the situation is unlikely to change over the weekend, with industry operating at reduced capacity – creating an even greater surplus of electricity in the grids.
Europe is increasingly confronting negative prices as renewable generation expands rapidly. Energy storage capacity remains insufficient, and existing transmission lines struggle to cope with overloads. Consequently, some solar plants have been forced to suspend operations temporarily.
Although negative electricity prices are not unheard of on European markets, values falling below minus €100 per megawatt-hour remain rare. Over the whole of this year so far, Germany has recorded such levels for only 17 hours, and France for 15 hours.
Bloomberg forecasts that solar generation in Germany on Friday will approach Thursday’s record of around 53 gigawatts.
“The weather is excellent, there is plenty of sun, and many countries have a long weekend,” explained Stefan Speth, a meteorologist and trader at ANE. Public holidays are marked on either Friday or Monday in countries including Germany, France, the UK and Spain.
