Record negative electricity prices in Europe: what’s going on
3 January 2025 11:48
Electricity prices in Germany temporarily became negative on the first trading day of the year. This situation is increasingly common in European countries due to the increase in electricity production from renewable sources. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Bloomberg.
For four hours at night, prices remained negative as the capacity of wind farms reached 40 gigawatts, which significantly exceeded consumption.
In 2024, electricity markets in Europe experienced record periods of negative prices as rapid growth in wind and solar capacity boosted generation. According to Epex Spot, Germany recorded 468 such hours, which is 60% more than in 2023. In France, this figure reached 356 hours, which is twice as much as before. In the UK, the figure reached 179 hours, and in Spain, for the first time, 247 hours with negative prices were recorded.
This trend has prompted some politicians to call for subsidies to be limited, as governments must ensure that producers receive guaranteed minimum payments even during periods when there is no demand for energy.
In addition, renewable energy production is highly dependent on weather conditions, which causes sharp fluctuations in the energy market. In December, a long period of calm weather led to the shutdown of wind turbines, and then a sharp increase in wind caused a surplus of energy.
As reported by DW, in the first six months of 2024, electricity from renewable energy sources (RES) in Germany covered more than half of the monthly needs. Since April, the monthly share has been 58 percent.
Of the total 58 percent of electricity generated from renewable energy sources (RES), 24 percent came from wind power, 14 percent from photovoltaic systems, nine percent from biomass, five percent from offshore wind and one percent from energy from household waste.
