State of European Power · December 2020
State of European Power — December 2020
Published 2021-01-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-07-13T23:58Z) · reproduce any number via the API
98
negative price-hours across 38 zones in December 2020
43.29
average day-ahead price, €/MWh, across covered zones
10
zones that cleared below zero at least once
December 2020 closed with 98 negative price-hours across the 38 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 10 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 13.26 €/MWh); the priciest was IT-SICI (60.66 €/MWh) — a 47 €/MWh gap between two markets inside one coupled European system, which is the whole story of constrained interconnection in one number.
DK1 logged the most negative hours (25), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to IE-SEM: from -17.51 to 378.12 €/MWh (395.63 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -80.06 €/MWh in DE-LU on 2020-12-27.
Every zone, one table
| Zone | Avg €/MWh | Min | Max | Negative hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT | 50.32 | 6.38 | 112.34 | 0 |
| BE | 47.4 | -10 | 130.99 | 8 |
| CH | 51.36 | 4.06 | 126.7 | 0 |
| CZ | 51.49 | -17.15 | 120.1 | 2 |
| DE-LU | 43.71 | -45.02 | 115.13 | 24 |
| DK1 | 34.55 | -33.58 | 114 | 25 |
| DK2 | 39.29 | -1.96 | 238.96 | 6 |
| EE | 45.5 | 2.75 | 199.97 | 0 |
| ES | 41.97 | 1.95 | 68.9 | 0 |
| FI | 39.27 | 1.54 | 199.97 | 0 |
| FR | 48.42 | -9.01 | 114 | 6 |
| GR | 59 | -0.01 | 140.01 | 2 |
| HR | 55.56 | 0 | 172.07 | 0 |
| HU | 58.19 | 3.05 | 150.02 | 0 |
| IE-SEM | 58.83 | -17.51 | 378.12 | 22 |
| IT-CNOR | 54.06 | 8 | 114 | 0 |
| IT-CSUD | 53.92 | 8 | 114 | 0 |
| IT-NORD | 53.69 | 8 | 114 | 0 |
| IT-SARD | 53.05 | 0 | 110.56 | 0 |
| IT-SICI | 60.66 | 8 | 104.39 | 0 |
| IT-SUD | 51.2 | 8 | 92.39 | 0 |
| LT | 45.76 | 2.75 | 199.96 | 0 |
| LV | 44.87 | 2.75 | 199.96 | 0 |
| NL | 48.28 | 3.13 | 151.99 | 0 |
| NO1 | 20.19 | 3.03 | 99.92 | 0 |
| NO2 | 20.2 | 3.03 | 99.92 | 0 |
| NO3 | 14.25 | 3.03 | 31.58 | 0 |
| NO4 | 13.26 | 3.03 | 18.97 | 0 |
| NO5 | 19.69 | 3.03 | 99.92 | 0 |
| PL | 56.65 | 11.43 | 100.3 | 0 |
| PT | 42.04 | 1.95 | 68.9 | 0 |
| RS | 57.95 | 3.03 | 165.58 | 0 |
| SE1 | 18.1 | 1.54 | 65.47 | 0 |
| SE2 | 18.1 | 1.54 | 65.47 | 0 |
| SE3 | 30.98 | 1.54 | 186.08 | 0 |
| SE4 | 37.33 | -1.96 | 186.08 | 1 |
| SI | 54.52 | 0 | 172.07 | 0 |
| SK | 51.56 | -17.15 | 120.1 | 2 |
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-2020-12".