State of European Power · May 2016
State of European Power — May 2016
Published 2016-06-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-07-13T23:47Z) · reproduce any number via the API
68
negative price-hours across 34 zones in May 2016
28.08
average day-ahead price, €/MWh, across covered zones
7
zones that cleared below zero at least once
May 2016 closed with 68 negative price-hours across the 34 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 7 of them cleared below zero at least once. Negative prices are no longer an anomaly; they are a structural feature of a grid where solar and wind routinely outrun demand.
The cheapest market of the month was NO4 (average 22.37 €/MWh); the priciest was GR (41.29 €/MWh) — a 19 €/MWh gap between two markets inside one coupled European system, which is the whole story of constrained interconnection in one number.
AT logged the most negative hours (18), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to IT-SARD: from 10.04 to 150.02 €/MWh (139.98 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -102.63 €/MWh in AT on 2016-05-15.
Every zone, one table
| Zone | Avg €/MWh | Min | Max | Negative hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT | 23.02 | -50.92 | 43.82 | 18 |
| BE | 25.38 | -5 | 47.6 | 1 |
| CH | 23.69 | -45.68 | 44.35 | 18 |
| CZ | 24.36 | -11.2 | 46.1 | 13 |
| DK1 | 23.39 | 6.01 | 46 | 0 |
| DK2 | 24.47 | 6.01 | 46 | 0 |
| EE | 28.26 | 6.01 | 95.04 | 0 |
| ES | 25.81 | 2.3 | 43.51 | 0 |
| FI | 28.07 | 6.01 | 95.04 | 0 |
| FR | 24.28 | -10.69 | 46 | 2 |
| GR | 41.29 | 1 | 69.25 | 0 |
| HU | 27.17 | -6.07 | 55.16 | 3 |
| IT-CNOR | 36.91 | 10.04 | 106.76 | 0 |
| IT-CSUD | 37.16 | 10.04 | 113.25 | 0 |
| IT-NORD | 31.61 | 10.04 | 60.57 | 0 |
| IT-SARD | 37.5 | 10.04 | 150.02 | 0 |
| IT-SICI | 39.93 | 10 | 98 | 0 |
| IT-SUD | 37.16 | 10.04 | 113.25 | 0 |
| LT | 32.87 | 6.01 | 95.04 | 0 |
| LV | 32.68 | 6.01 | 95.04 | 0 |
| NL | 27.2 | 2.79 | 53.12 | 0 |
| NO1 | 22.59 | 6.01 | 35.97 | 0 |
| NO2 | 22.59 | 6.01 | 35.97 | 0 |
| NO3 | 23.53 | 11.28 | 46 | 0 |
| NO4 | 22.37 | 11.28 | 45 | 0 |
| NO5 | 22.58 | 6.01 | 35.97 | 0 |
| PL | 37.34 | 18.48 | 66.05 | 0 |
| PT | 24.98 | 2.79 | 43.51 | 0 |
| SE1 | 23.67 | 6.01 | 46 | 0 |
| SE2 | 23.67 | 6.01 | 46 | 0 |
| SE3 | 23.67 | 6.01 | 46 | 0 |
| SE4 | 23.71 | 6.01 | 46 | 0 |
| SI | 26.55 | 0.01 | 53.75 | 0 |
| SK | 25.16 | -11.2 | 55.16 | 13 |
Method & citation. Hourly means over all published day-ahead auction results
per zone (native 15-minute periods averaged per hour); zones with under 20 reported days excluded. Sources: ENTSO-E
Transparency Platform, SMARD (CC BY 4.0). Reproduce via GET /api/v1/prices/{zone}.
Cite as "Voltcast Research, voltcast.com/research/state-of-european-power-2016-05".