State of European Power · December 2018
State of European Power — December 2018
Published 2019-01-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-07-13T23:49Z) · reproduce any number via the API
43
negative price-hours across 37 zones in December 2018
57.75
average day-ahead price, €/MWh, across covered zones
6
zones that cleared below zero at least once
December 2018 closed with 43 negative price-hours across the 37 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 6 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 DK1 (average 46.68 €/MWh); the priciest was IT-SICI (78.28 €/MWh) — a 32 €/MWh gap between two markets inside one coupled European system, which is the whole story of constrained interconnection in one number.
DE-LU logged the most negative hours (22), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to IE-SEM: from 0 to 298.65 €/MWh (298.65 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -41.34 €/MWh in DE-LU on 2018-12-09.
Every zone, one table
| Zone | Avg €/MWh | Min | Max | Negative hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT | 56.33 | -0.92 | 97.29 | 1 |
| BE | 59.66 | 11.31 | 100 | 0 |
| CH | 57.69 | 14.91 | 96.13 | 0 |
| CZ | 51.68 | 0 | 98.3 | 0 |
| DE-LU | 48.09 | -18.16 | 97.17 | 22 |
| DK1 | 46.68 | -9.9 | 83.71 | 9 |
| DK2 | 49.09 | -9.9 | 97.29 | 9 |
| EE | 53.03 | 20.99 | 81.02 | 0 |
| ES | 61.81 | 45.15 | 71.97 | 0 |
| FI | 52.3 | 20.99 | 81.02 | 0 |
| FR | 54.89 | 1.82 | 97.29 | 0 |
| GR | 71.25 | 21.19 | 99.02 | 0 |
| HR | 63.58 | -0.92 | 136.03 | 1 |
| HU | 65.05 | 9.98 | 120.1 | 0 |
| IE-SEM | 75.5 | 0 | 298.65 | 0 |
| IT-CNOR | 64.45 | 18.37 | 109.47 | 0 |
| IT-CSUD | 64.01 | 18.37 | 109.47 | 0 |
| IT-NORD | 64.45 | 18.37 | 109.47 | 0 |
| IT-SARD | 63.99 | 18.37 | 109.47 | 0 |
| IT-SICI | 78.28 | 10 | 148.94 | 0 |
| IT-SUD | 62.46 | 10 | 97.29 | 0 |
| LT | 53.6 | 20.82 | 94.96 | 0 |
| LV | 53.6 | 20.99 | 81.02 | 0 |
| NL | 59.66 | 24 | 108.78 | 0 |
| NO1 | 51.79 | 40.86 | 81.02 | 0 |
| NO2 | 51.77 | 40.86 | 81.02 | 0 |
| NO3 | 51.14 | 40.86 | 78.81 | 0 |
| NO4 | 50.61 | 40.86 | 78.81 | 0 |
| NO5 | 51.64 | 40.86 | 81.02 | 0 |
| PT | 61.86 | 45.7 | 71.97 | 0 |
| RS | 64.5 | 19.59 | 116.22 | 0 |
| SE1 | 50.54 | 20.99 | 79.55 | 0 |
| SE2 | 50.54 | 20.99 | 79.55 | 0 |
| SE3 | 50.79 | 20.99 | 81.02 | 0 |
| SE4 | 51.44 | 20.99 | 94.96 | 0 |
| SI | 62.43 | -0.92 | 119.1 | 1 |
| SK | 56.44 | 0 | 120.1 | 0 |
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-2018-12".