Negative prices on Czech day-ahead market rise, already more frequent than last year

As a result of Storm Herwart last week, the number of hours in which the price of electricity on the Czech day-ahead market was negative this year reached 60. There were only 58 such hours in the whole of last year. Germany has already experienced negative prices for 103 hours this year.

Negative prices have been occurring increasingly often in recent years as the capacity of wind power plants grows in Central Europe. It is therefore becoming increasingly common for consumers to be paid to take electricity on the day-ahead market.

A typical example was last weekend, when Storm Herwart swept through the Czech Republic and other European countries, causing electricity prices on the Czech day-ahead market to remain in negative territory for 18 consecutive hours. Prices fell as low as -50 EUR/MWh.

This year, negative prices have thus already occurred for 60 hours. This is already more than in the whole of last year. It is likely that negative prices may still occur during the next two months. For comparison, a negative price was recorded for 58 hours during the whole of last year.