State of European Power · October 2023

State of European Power — October 2023

Published 2023-11-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-07-13T23:54Z) · reproduce any number via the API

1,514

negative price-hours across 43 zones in October 2023

86.11

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

29

zones that cleared below zero at least once

October 2023 closed with 1,514 negative price-hours across the 43 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 29 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 13.75 €/MWh); the priciest was IT-CNOR (135.94 €/MWh) — a 122 €/MWh gap between two markets inside one coupled European system, which is the whole story of constrained interconnection in one number.

SE1 logged the most negative hours (143), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to FI: from -10.39 to 329.91 €/MWh (340.3 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -114.08 €/MWh in AT on 2023-10-28.

Every zone, one table

ZoneAvg €/MWhMinMaxNegative hours
AT 99.32 -1.5 240.81 1
BE 86.34 -4.33 240 25
BG 106.81 -1.1 313.59 2
CH 105.45 -9.32 260.95 3
CZ 94.27 -1.35 250.28 2
DE-LU 87.14 -16.39 245.12 29
DK1 59.85 -2.62 250.28 51
DK2 56.68 -4.33 250.28 74
EE 87.49 -4.43 329.91 39
ES 89.84 0 220 0
FI 37.7 -10.39 329.91 141
FR 84.2 -0.02 240 3
GR 111.16 0 301.15 0
HR 104.01 -1.02 245.71 2
HU 104.87 -1.1 320.79 2
IE-SEM 125.12 0 300 0
IT-CALA 134.04 9 249.86 0
IT-CNOR 135.94 15 249.86 0
IT-CSUD 135.23 10 249.86 0
IT-NORD 133.44 15 240 0
IT-SARD 135.23 10 249.86 0
IT-SICI 135.31 9 268.11 0
IT-SUD 134.04 9 249.86 0
LT 87.49 -4.43 329.91 39
LV 87.49 -4.43 329.91 39
ME 110.44 6.57 247.08 0
MK 106.97 15 239.2 0
NL 90.19 -7.1 245.05 37
NO1 36.95 -2.7 192.24 62
NO2 43.32 -2.7 192.24 40
NO3 13.89 -5.15 108.07 142
NO4 13.75 -5.15 108.07 116
NO5 36.62 -2.7 192.24 62
PL 95.38 -10.25 194.27 25
PT 89.55 0 215.02 0
RO 105.98 -1.1 313.59 2
RS 106.12 5.04 257.67 0
SE1 15.02 -10.39 108.07 143
SE2 15.02 -10.39 108.07 143
SE3 28.33 -10.39 221.7 143
SE4 30.8 -10.39 221.7 143
SI 103.42 -0.98 242.84 2
SK 102.66 -1.2 300 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-2023-10".