State of European Power · May 2021
State of European Power — May 2021
Published 2021-06-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-08-26T23:44Z) · reproduce any number via the API
223
negative price-hours across 40 zones in May 2021
86.68
average day-ahead price, €/MWh, across covered zones
13
zones that cleared below zero at least once
May 2021 closed with 223 negative price-hours across the 40 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 13 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 32.6 €/MWh); the priciest was UA (928.94 €/MWh) — a 896 €/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 (39), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to UA: from 67 to 2048.23 €/MWh (1981.23 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -88.51 €/MWh in DE-LU on 2021-05-22.
Every zone, one table
| Zone | Avg €/MWh | Min | Max | Negative hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT | 55.38 | -55.74 | 98.4 | 15 |
| BE | 55.61 | -66.18 | 112.2 | 27 |
| CH | 57.8 | -79.4 | 93.17 | 15 |
| CZ | 59.29 | -35 | 98.5 | 12 |
| DE-LU | 53.46 | -67.4 | 99.38 | 39 |
| DK1 | 54.29 | -43.91 | 101.82 | 17 |
| DK2 | 55.19 | 0.03 | 101.82 | 0 |
| ES | 67.18 | 0.01 | 97.01 | 0 |
| FI | 45.9 | 0.17 | 144.65 | 0 |
| FR | 55.26 | -66.18 | 101.5 | 18 |
| GR | 63.19 | 0 | 104.13 | 0 |
| HR | 59.88 | -66.18 | 101.5 | 14 |
| HU | 59.94 | -35 | 98.5 | 8 |
| IE-SEM | 96.71 | -12.02 | 300 | 15 |
| IT-CALA | 70.81 | 3 | 110.81 | 0 |
| IT-CNOR | 69.74 | 3 | 101.5 | 0 |
| IT-CSUD | 70.6 | 3 | 100 | 0 |
| IT-NORD | 69.49 | 3 | 101.5 | 0 |
| IT-SARD | 67.53 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
| IT-SICI | 71.35 | 3 | 123.67 | 0 |
| IT-SUD | 70.48 | 3 | 100 | 0 |
| LT | 50.38 | 0.17 | 144.65 | 0 |
| LV | 48.36 | 0.17 | 144.65 | 0 |
| NL | 56.12 | -66.18 | 101.5 | 21 |
| NO1 | 48.21 | 0.05 | 98.56 | 0 |
| NO2 | 48.31 | 0.05 | 98.56 | 0 |
| NO3 | 36.62 | 5.03 | 98.56 | 0 |
| NO4 | 32.6 | 5.03 | 98.56 | 0 |
| NO5 | 48.4 | 0.58 | 98.56 | 0 |
| PL | 65.65 | 35.58 | 99.94 | 0 |
| PT | 67.18 | 0.01 | 96.51 | 0 |
| RS | 59.89 | 4.74 | 95.27 | 0 |
| SE1 | 38.35 | 0.03 | 98.56 | 0 |
| SE2 | 38.35 | 0.03 | 98.56 | 0 |
| SE3 | 42.84 | 0.03 | 100.06 | 0 |
| SE4 | 47.8 | 0.03 | 100.06 | 0 |
| SI | 59.87 | -66.18 | 101.5 | 14 |
| SK | 59.78 | -35 | 98.5 | 8 |
| TR | 360.59 | 114.58 | 578 | 0 |
| UA | 928.94 | 67 | 2048.23 | 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-2021-05".
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