Daily guide · IT-SARD · 2026-08-23
What solar actually earned per MWh in Italy Sardinia 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.
Solar in Sardinia earned an average of 120,29 EUR/MWh across the week, against a baseload average of 170,61 EUR/MWh, for a mean capture rate of 85 per cent. That is a comparatively healthy figure by solar standards, and the week held together well through its middle stretch: capture climbed from 120,29 EUR/MWh on 16 August to a peak of 169,96 EUR/MWh on 21 August, with the rate reaching 96 per cent that day.
The two weekend bookends tell the more cautionary story. Both 16 August and 22 August fell below 75 per cent capture, at 76 and 72 per cent respectively, with 22 August the weakest at 118,29 EUR/MWh against a 165,28 EUR/MWh baseload. Peak solar output barely moved across the week, sitting at 0,8 to 0,9 GW, so the swing in capture reflects price shape rather than volume.
The takeaway: on this island, the gap between a good day and a poor one is a capture-rate story, not a generation one. When you model Sardinian solar revenue, weight the weekend downside — a 20-plus point rate drop can appear with output essentially unchanged.
Solar has a pricing problem it created itself: every panel in IT-SARD 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:
145.2
€/MWh solar capture price this week (generation-weighted)
170.61
€/MWh baseload average — the number the brochure quotes
85%
capture rate — what solar keeps of the average price
Day by day
| Day | Capture €/MWh | Baseload €/MWh | Capture rate | Peak solar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-16 | 120.29 | 157.56 | 76% | 0.9 GW |
| 2026-08-17 | 158.74 | 175.97 | 90% | 0.9 GW |
| 2026-08-18 | 130.42 | 165.66 | 79% | 0.9 GW |
| 2026-08-19 | 152.84 | 172.41 | 89% | 0.9 GW |
| 2026-08-20 | 165.88 | 179.56 | 92% | 0.9 GW |
| 2026-08-21 | 169.96 | 177.82 | 96% | 0.8 GW |
| 2026-08-22 | 118.29 | 165.28 | 72% | 0.9 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/IT-SARD?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-it-sard-2026-08-23".
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.