State of European Power · April 2020
State of European Power — April 2020
Published 2020-05-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-07-13T23:57Z) · reproduce any number via the API
328
negative price-hours across 38 zones in April 2020
18.19
average day-ahead price, €/MWh, across covered zones
14
zones that cleared below zero at least once
April 2020 closed with 328 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 NO3 (average 4.65 €/MWh); the priciest was PL (33.3 €/MWh) — a 29 €/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 (42), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to BE: from -115.31 to 35.48 €/MWh (150.79 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -115.31 €/MWh in BE on 2020-04-13.
Every zone, one table
| Zone | Avg €/MWh | Min | Max | Negative hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT | 18.74 | -51.86 | 58.73 | 23 |
| BE | 14.68 | -115.31 | 35.48 | 37 |
| CH | 17.18 | -55.35 | 32.07 | 25 |
| CZ | 19.24 | -35 | 56 | 29 |
| DE-LU | 17.42 | -78.48 | 66.62 | 42 |
| DK1 | 14.54 | -55.77 | 48.75 | 24 |
| DK2 | 17.36 | -42.66 | 57.31 | 18 |
| EE | 23.68 | 1.24 | 109.11 | 0 |
| ES | 17.61 | 1.95 | 31.01 | 0 |
| FI | 19.81 | 1.24 | 109.11 | 0 |
| FR | 13.41 | -75.82 | 29.43 | 31 |
| GR | 28.48 | 0 | 80.01 | 0 |
| HR | 23.97 | -11.03 | 61.29 | 4 |
| HU | 25.32 | -8.12 | 125.08 | 3 |
| IE-SEM | 27.99 | -14.56 | 53.61 | 32 |
| IT-CNOR | 24.78 | 0 | 55.16 | 0 |
| IT-CSUD | 25.2 | 0 | 55.16 | 0 |
| IT-NORD | 24.46 | 0 | 55.16 | 0 |
| IT-SARD | 24.52 | 0 | 55.16 | 0 |
| IT-SICI | 26.07 | 0 | 78.73 | 0 |
| IT-SUD | 25.17 | 0 | 55.16 | 0 |
| LT | 23.3 | 1.24 | 59.57 | 0 |
| LV | 23.5 | 1.24 | 59.57 | 0 |
| NL | 18.97 | -79.19 | 47.76 | 27 |
| NO1 | 4.7 | 1.24 | 7.77 | 0 |
| NO2 | 4.69 | 1.24 | 7.77 | 0 |
| NO3 | 4.65 | 1.24 | 8.2 | 0 |
| NO4 | 4.75 | 1.24 | 8.2 | 0 |
| NO5 | 4.7 | 1.24 | 7.77 | 0 |
| PL | 33.3 | 13.16 | 61.58 | 0 |
| PT | 17.73 | 1.95 | 31.01 | 0 |
| RS | 25.08 | 0.93 | 54.73 | 0 |
| SE1 | 5.13 | 1.24 | 22.57 | 0 |
| SE2 | 5.13 | 1.24 | 22.57 | 0 |
| SE3 | 9 | 1.24 | 47.84 | 0 |
| SE4 | 13.75 | 1.24 | 57.31 | 0 |
| SI | 23.74 | -11.03 | 59.58 | 4 |
| SK | 19.34 | -33 | 56 | 29 |
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-2020-04".