State of European Power · January 2020
State of European Power — January 2020
Published 2020-02-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-07-13T23:55Z) · reproduce any number via the API
43
negative price-hours across 38 zones in January 2020
37.81
average day-ahead price, €/MWh, across covered zones
3
zones that cleared below zero at least once
January 2020 closed with 43 negative price-hours across the 38 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 3 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 SE1 (average 23.25 €/MWh); the priciest was IT-SICI (58.79 €/MWh) — a 36 €/MWh gap between two markets inside one coupled European system, which is the whole story of constrained interconnection in one number.
IE-SEM logged the most negative hours (36), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to IE-SEM: from -5.42 to 196.79 €/MWh (202.21 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -43.60 €/MWh in AT on 2020-01-27.
Every zone, one table
| Zone | Avg €/MWh | Min | Max | Negative hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT | 40.54 | 22.23 | 67.13 | 0 |
| BE | 37.85 | 8.24 | 68.64 | 0 |
| CH | 42.56 | 20.45 | 66.01 | 0 |
| CZ | 41.81 | 10.79 | 69.74 | 0 |
| DE-LU | 34.68 | -7.86 | 66.58 | 4 |
| DK1 | 24.95 | -0.04 | 48.32 | 3 |
| DK2 | 27.34 | 0.07 | 66.62 | 0 |
| EE | 30.82 | 0.1 | 121.03 | 0 |
| ES | 41.08 | 14 | 62.48 | 0 |
| FI | 27.14 | 0.1 | 121.03 | 0 |
| FR | 37.97 | 8.66 | 68.64 | 0 |
| GR | 58.39 | 23.81 | 85.11 | 0 |
| HR | 51.32 | 27.03 | 150.02 | 0 |
| HU | 52.96 | 26.38 | 104.62 | 0 |
| IE-SEM | 42.07 | -5.42 | 196.79 | 36 |
| IT-CNOR | 46.45 | 27.03 | 92.73 | 0 |
| IT-CSUD | 48.27 | 27.03 | 92.73 | 0 |
| IT-NORD | 45.89 | 27.03 | 75.09 | 0 |
| IT-SARD | 48.27 | 27.03 | 92.73 | 0 |
| IT-SICI | 58.79 | 27.03 | 123.53 | 0 |
| IT-SUD | 48.17 | 27.03 | 92.73 | 0 |
| LT | 30.82 | 0.1 | 121.03 | 0 |
| LV | 30.82 | 0.1 | 121.03 | 0 |
| NL | 37.07 | 8.24 | 68.64 | 0 |
| NO1 | 24.61 | 16.05 | 32.04 | 0 |
| NO2 | 24.61 | 16.05 | 32.04 | 0 |
| NO3 | 23.48 | 1.04 | 31.76 | 0 |
| NO4 | 23.45 | 1.04 | 31.76 | 0 |
| NO5 | 24.61 | 16.05 | 32.04 | 0 |
| PL | 44.14 | 19.61 | 71.23 | 0 |
| PT | 40.9 | 14 | 60.11 | 0 |
| RS | 53.88 | 24.99 | 95 | 0 |
| SE1 | 23.25 | 0.1 | 31.76 | 0 |
| SE2 | 23.25 | 0.1 | 31.76 | 0 |
| SE3 | 23.72 | 0.1 | 47.4 | 0 |
| SE4 | 26.37 | 0.1 | 66.62 | 0 |
| SI | 50.24 | 27.03 | 150.02 | 0 |
| SK | 44.37 | 10.79 | 100.02 | 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-2020-01".