Daily guide · AT · 2026-08-05
What solar actually earned per MWh in Austria this week
All numbers computed from the week's published auction results at publication and frozen — this article is an honest snapshot, not a page that rewrites itself. Reproduce via the API.
Austrian solar captured 86,60 EUR/MWh on average this week, against a baseload of 141,73 EUR/MWh, for a capture rate of 0,60. That headline average hides a wide spread. The week opened soft, with capture at 72,48 EUR/MWh on 29 July and a rate of 0,53, then deteriorated sharply to a low of 37,60 EUR/MWh on 2 August, a rate of just 0,32. It recovered to close the week strongly at 118,65 EUR/MWh on 4 August, a rate of 0,74.
The pattern matters because peak solar output stayed broadly flat, between 3,7 and 5 GW, so the swings came from price dynamics rather than volume. The weakest day, 2 August, paired a low capture with the week's lowest baseload of 116,16 EUR/MWh, a sign of soft midday demand rather than a supply glut alone.
The takeaway: capture rate this week was driven by the day, not the fleet. Three days cleared above 0,73, three sat near or below 0,54. Readers hedging solar revenue should treat single-day capture rates as volatile and lean on the weekly 0,60 as the more reliable planning anchor.
Solar has a pricing problem it created itself: every panel in AT produces at the same hours, so the more the fleet generates, the lower the price each MWh fetches. The number that captures this is the capture price — the generation-weighted price solar actually earned — and the capture rate, that price as a share of the plain average. Brochures quote the average; revenue arrives at the capture price. This week, measured on real generation and auction data:
86.6
€/MWh solar capture price this week (generation-weighted)
141.73
€/MWh baseload average — the number the brochure quotes
60%
capture rate — what solar keeps of the average price
Day by day
| Day | Capture €/MWh | Baseload €/MWh | Capture rate | Peak solar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-29 | 72.48 | 137.98 | 53% | 5 GW |
| 2026-07-30 | 77.02 | 134.13 | 57% | 4.3 GW |
| 2026-07-31 | 113.18 | 155.61 | 73% | 4.6 GW |
| 2026-08-01 | 71.74 | 133.44 | 54% | 3.7 GW |
| 2026-08-02 | 37.6 | 116.16 | 32% | 4.3 GW |
| 2026-08-03 | 115.54 | 155.45 | 74% | 4.5 GW |
| 2026-08-04 | 118.65 | 159.37 | 74% | 4.6 GW |
Capture = Σ(hourly price × solar MW) / Σ(solar MW), from realized generation (ENTSO-E A75) and published auction results. Sunny days push the rate DOWN — that's the cannibalization.
Why this number runs businesses
If you're valuing a PPA, sizing a solar+storage project, or hedging merchant exposure, the capture
rate — not the average price — is your revenue line. One week is weather noise; the trend is the
signal: GET /v1/capture/AT?technology=solar&months=24
returns two years of monthly capture prices and rates, and
POST /v1/ppa/value backcasts a pay-as-produced PPA at your strike.
Both are on the Scale tier (Pro gets a teaser);
battery owners can flip the same effect into revenue — see the
battery arbitrage guide for what the storage side earned this week.
Method & citation. Prices are hourly means of published day-ahead auction results (native 15-minute periods averaged; ENTSO-E/SMARD, attributed). Wholesale-price component only — grid fees and taxes come on top and vary by supplier. Cite as "Voltcast Research, voltcast.com/guides/solar-capture-at-2026-08-05".
The monthly European power roundup
Negative-price records, the biggest spreads, which zones were hardest to forecast — every number computed from our production data, on the 2nd of each month. No filler, unsubscribe anytime.