European wind set new records in December, also pushing electricity prices into negative territory

Last month, particularly its second half, was marked by strong wind power generation. Thanks to windy weather and further growth in installed wind capacity, last December was the strongest December ever in terms of output. Just before Christmas, European wind farms even set a new daily record; overall, December fell just short of record-breaking February 2022.

Although the start of December was weak for wind farms across most of Europe, the situation completely reversed in the second half of the month. According to the WindEurope association, European wind farms generated 62.9 TWh of electricity in December, more than 40% higher than in December 2022.

A number of countries set new records for wind power generation during December, according to S&P Global Platts. Across the continent, the record day was 22 December, when wind farms throughout Europe supplied an average of 139 GW. Strong generation and holiday-period demand often pushed spot market electricity prices close to zero or into negative territory. This included hourly prices on the Czech day-ahead market.

High output at low market prices

However, low wholesale prices on spot markets have a negative impact on the economics of operating wind farms. According to Platts calculations, German onshore wind farms sold electricity for an average of 30 EUR/MWh during the second half of December. During the Christmas holidays, operators of these plants would even have had to pay to sell their output on the spot market.

Last December was a record month for total wind power generation. However, February 2022 still holds the record for average output over a month, at 87 GW. In terms of annual output, last year was the first ever in which wind farms in the EU, the United Kingdom and Norway generated more than 500 TWh, producing 545 TWh in total.