State of European Power · March 2020

State of European Power — March 2020

Published 2020-04-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-07-13T23:57Z) · reproduce any number via the API

208

negative price-hours across 38 zones in March 2020

23.71

average day-ahead price, €/MWh, across covered zones

14

zones that cleared below zero at least once

March 2020 closed with 208 negative price-hours across the 38 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 14 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 NO2 (average 8 €/MWh); the priciest was GR (43.6 €/MWh) — a 36 €/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 (45), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to GR: from 0 to 130 €/MWh (130 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -55.35 €/MWh in DE-LU on 2020-03-22.

Every zone, one table

ZoneAvg €/MWhMinMaxNegative hours
AT 24.85 -17.83 60.79 15
BE 24.02 -52.09 64.7 14
CH 26.13 -10.94 57.09 11
CZ 25.41 -28 58.03 19
DE-LU 22.48 -48.25 61.82 45
DK1 18.25 -10.87 64.7 11
DK2 19.98 -10.87 64.7 10
EE 23.99 4.09 65.98 0
ES 27.74 5.64 48.28 0
FI 20.35 3.97 65 0
FR 23.83 -25.08 64.7 8
GR 43.6 0 130 0
HR 29.41 -19.97 66.02 9
HU 29.75 -0.91 63.87 1
IE-SEM 34.33 -4.63 120.09 24
IT-CNOR 31.6 9.11 66.02 0
IT-CSUD 32.78 9.11 70 0
IT-NORD 31.4 9.11 66.02 0
IT-SARD 32.78 9.11 70 0
IT-SICI 33.63 9.11 122.1 0
IT-SUD 32.49 9.11 70 0
LT 23.97 4.09 65.98 0
LV 23.99 4.09 65.98 0
NL 24.75 -22.42 64.7 13
NO1 8.04 3.47 25.97 0
NO2 8 3.47 25.97 0
NO3 9 3.47 19.48 0
NO4 9 3.47 19.48 0
NO5 8.04 3.47 25.97 0
PL 36.94 11.39 66.08 0
PT 27.85 5.64 48.28 0
RS 29.84 3.07 59.92 0
SE1 8.99 3.47 19.48 0
SE2 8.99 3.47 19.48 0
SE3 13.82 3.47 64.7 0
SE4 15.95 3.47 64.7 0
SI 29.41 -19.97 66.02 9
SK 25.51 -28 58.03 19

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-2020-03".