Germany dominated by renewables on Sunday, electricity “sold” at -155 EUR/MWh

In Germany, around noon on Sunday, output supplied by renewable sources reached 51.78 GW, according to preliminary data. This was due to favourable conditions for both wind and solar power plants occurring simultaneously. Intraday market prices also responded to this situation, falling as low as -155 EUR/MWh at two o’clock in the afternoon.

Sunday was one of the notably sunny days in Germany, which was also reflected in electricity generation from solar panels, which supplied nearly 26 GW of electrical output to the grid at their peak. Wind power plants supplied a further just under 19 GW.

Total renewable output thus reached 51.78 GW at 11 a.m. on Sunday, 8 May, helped by moderately favourable weather conditions. Renewable generation was supplemented by hydropower plants (3 GW) and biomass, which provided around 5 GW of output. (note, for comparison of renewable output scale: demand in the Czech Republic ranges from 8 GW off-peak to 11 GW at peak)

According to preliminary Agorameter data, total electricity consumption in Germany stood at 68 GW during that hour, putting renewables’ share of consumption at around 78% (note: it is important to mention that despite high renewable electricity generation, it was probably not fully utilised, particularly due to transmission and distribution grid constraints).

An interesting aspect was the development of intraday market prices, which reflected the high output from renewable sources, which have priority access to the grid under German legislation.

Given lower weekend electricity consumption, there was little room left for sources without priority access. As a result, electricity traded deep in negative territory on the intraday market at 14:00, specifically at – 155 EUR/MWh.

@Sustainable2050@bryworthington
Day Ahead: 08.05.2016; 14:00:00 : -130.09 €/MWh
Intraday: 08.05.2016; 14:00:00 : -155.52 €/MWh

— Bruno Burger (@energy_charts) 8 May 2016

Gas-fired and hard coal power plants responded best to the high renewable output, supplying only 2 GW to the grid rather than their usual 18 GW. Lignite-fired power plants adjusted somewhat less, supplying 6 GW to the grid instead of the usual 15 GW. Nuclear power plants, which since around 11 April have supplied only 6.5 GW instead of the usual 10.5 GW to the grid, reduced output from around 6.3 GW to 5 GW.

The balance of the German power system, which during high electricity exports also burdens the Czech transmission system, exceeded 8 GW during the most problematic period. This time, however, the flows caused no serious problems and, according to ČEPS, no special situation occurred on that day.

Lead image author: Flickr – Gerry Machen