Low holiday demand and strong wind generation pushed the price of electricity in Germany below zero, while wholesale prices in France, Denmark and Britain went negative for several hours.
On December 24, the “day-ahead” price for electricity in Germany fell to $-3.72 per megawatt-hour, according to data from the Paris electricity exchange Epex Spot SE. As of Wednesday, the first business day after Christmas, the contract was at $67.34.
Negative prices are becoming more common as more weather-dependent renewable energy appears on the continent. Germany’s wind power generation is expected to remain high for the rest of the week, peaking at more than 50 gigawatts on Friday, according to the Bloomberg Wind Model. On December 21, wind energy production in the country reached a record 53 gigawatts.
Sub-zero prices are what European markets are looking forward to if the flow of planned renewable energy production is not met by a shift in demand.
According to the exchange, on December 24, prices fell to $-11.84 per megawatt-hour in Great Britain, and on December 25, they became negative in France – $-13.21 and Denmark – $-9.46.
