State of European Power · May 2023
State of European Power — May 2023
Published 2023-06-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-07-13T23:54Z) · reproduce any number via the API
1,031
negative price-hours across 43 zones in May 2023
77.51
average day-ahead price, €/MWh, across covered zones
27
zones that cleared below zero at least once
May 2023 closed with 1,031 negative price-hours across the 43 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 27 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 18.67 €/MWh); the priciest was IT-SICI (108.74 €/MWh) — a 90 €/MWh gap between two markets inside one coupled European system, which is the whole story of constrained interconnection in one number.
FI logged the most negative hours (98), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to LV: from -10.06 to 629.1 €/MWh (639.16 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -400.00 €/MWh in NL on 2023-05-28.
Every zone, one table
| Zone | Avg €/MWh | Min | Max | Negative hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT | 81.89 | -60.03 | 155.35 | 20 |
| BE | 80.11 | -90 | 161.08 | 19 |
| BG | 87.29 | 0 | 273.36 | 0 |
| CH | 85.8 | -50.8 | 147.41 | 11 |
| CZ | 85.23 | -68.54 | 180.25 | 24 |
| DE-LU | 81.95 | -87.54 | 167.49 | 25 |
| DK1 | 73.82 | -129.96 | 171.58 | 35 |
| DK2 | 66.04 | -10.06 | 178.29 | 32 |
| EE | 65.69 | -10.06 | 178.29 | 35 |
| ES | 74.17 | 0 | 148.16 | 0 |
| FI | 26.52 | -10.06 | 130.97 | 98 |
| FR | 77.48 | -45.6 | 162.57 | 25 |
| GR | 105.46 | 0 | 195.07 | 0 |
| HR | 86.8 | -33.68 | 231.47 | 21 |
| HU | 88.12 | -23.74 | 273.36 | 24 |
| IE-SEM | 105.18 | 70.58 | 175.73 | 0 |
| IT-CALA | 102.24 | 3 | 192.89 | 0 |
| IT-CNOR | 105.5 | 4 | 192.89 | 0 |
| IT-CSUD | 105.52 | 4 | 192.89 | 0 |
| IT-NORD | 105.46 | 4 | 192.89 | 0 |
| IT-SARD | 104.25 | 3 | 192.89 | 0 |
| IT-SICI | 108.74 | 0 | 262.8 | 0 |
| IT-SUD | 105.52 | 4 | 192.89 | 0 |
| LT | 78.14 | -10.06 | 629.1 | 12 |
| LV | 78.14 | -10.06 | 629.1 | 12 |
| ME | 86.34 | 1.96 | 175.5 | 0 |
| MK | 77.03 | 0 | 179.85 | 0 |
| NL | 77.88 | -400 | 148.4 | 49 |
| NO1 | 66.94 | -10.06 | 130.97 | 19 |
| NO2 | 68.69 | -10.06 | 130.97 | 19 |
| NO3 | 27.06 | -10.06 | 130.97 | 84 |
| NO4 | 18.67 | -10.06 | 65.58 | 84 |
| NO5 | 67.26 | -5 | 130.97 | 19 |
| PL | 105.67 | 6.59 | 189 | 0 |
| PT | 76.05 | 0 | 148.16 | 0 |
| RO | 87.06 | -23.18 | 273.36 | 15 |
| RS | 87.33 | 0 | 195.95 | 0 |
| SE1 | 24.51 | -10.06 | 130.97 | 92 |
| SE2 | 24.57 | -10.06 | 130.97 | 92 |
| SE3 | 34.34 | -10.06 | 130.97 | 87 |
| SE4 | 64.75 | -10.06 | 178.29 | 31 |
| SI | 86.09 | -41.24 | 208.37 | 22 |
| SK | 87.56 | -21.96 | 225.45 | 25 |
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-2023-05".