State of European Power · April 2023

State of European Power — April 2023

Published 2023-05-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-07-13T23:52Z) · reproduce any number via the API

78

negative price-hours across 41 zones in April 2023

97.42

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

18

zones that cleared below zero at least once

April 2023 closed with 78 negative price-hours across the 41 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 18 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 35.02 €/MWh); the priciest was IT-CNOR (135.65 €/MWh) — a 101 €/MWh gap between two markets inside one coupled European system, which is the whole story of constrained interconnection in one number.

NL logged the most negative hours (27), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to NL: from -195.41 to 207.92 €/MWh (403.33 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -195.41 €/MWh in NL on 2023-04-19.

Every zone, one table

ZoneAvg €/MWhMinMaxNegative hours
AT 105.76 6.21 199.7 0
BE 105.62 -50 208.13 6
BG 98.81 0.18 209.6 0
CH 116.12 -4.2 197 4
CZ 105.76 -2 226.35 4
DE-LU 101.88 -7.21 205.55 3
DK1 96.36 -7.84 207.92 11
DK2 83.81 -0.92 207.92 2
EE 65.88 -0.92 201.91 2
ES 73.82 0 166.06 0
FI 60.54 -0.92 174.79 2
FR 106.45 -0.03 208.16 2
GR 120.44 0.18 211 0
HR 105.47 0.91 199.56 0
HU 106.8 -0.19 246.15 1
IE-SEM 125.54 40 215 0
IT-CALA 132.65 10 260 0
IT-CNOR 135.65 10 260 0
IT-CSUD 134.41 10 260 0
IT-NORD 135.51 10 260 0
IT-SARD 134.41 10 260 0
IT-SICI 132.65 10 260 0
IT-SUD 132.66 10 260 0
LT 67.26 -0.92 201.91 2
LV 65.88 -0.92 201.91 2
NL 98.71 -195.41 207.92 27
NO1 96.52 0.74 174.79 0
NO2 96.52 0.74 174.79 0
NO3 60.5 0.71 171.48 0
NO4 35.02 0.71 79.35 0
NO5 98.23 33.71 174.79 0
PL 122.03 7.99 201.91 0
PT 77.05 0 166.06 0
RO 97.52 0.02 209.6 0
RS 106.67 10.08 189.03 0
SE1 58.61 -0.92 171.48 2
SE2 58.61 -0.92 171.48 2
SE3 60.58 -0.92 174.79 2
SE4 65.14 -0.92 201.91 2
SI 106.09 1.09 200.68 0
SK 106.29 -0.72 202.2 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-2023-04".