State of European Power · December 2023
State of European Power — December 2023
Published 2024-01-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-07-13T23:55Z) · reproduce any number via the API
426
negative price-hours across 43 zones in December 2023
83.57
average day-ahead price, €/MWh, across covered zones
25
zones that cleared below zero at least once
December 2023 closed with 426 negative price-hours across the 43 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 25 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 59.34 €/MWh); the priciest was IT-CNOR (116.14 €/MWh) — a 57 €/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 (69), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to DK2: from -1.11 to 332 €/MWh (333.11 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -94.38 €/MWh in AT on 2023-12-24.
Every zone, one table
| Zone | Avg €/MWh | Min | Max | Negative hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT | 73.94 | -21.26 | 231.33 | 33 |
| BE | 69.26 | -11.8 | 229.97 | 50 |
| BG | 81.41 | -0.01 | 231.37 | 1 |
| CH | 80.97 | -10.36 | 244.66 | 8 |
| CZ | 73.04 | -17.09 | 224.66 | 26 |
| DE-LU | 68.94 | -19.72 | 237.84 | 69 |
| DK1 | 69.36 | -8.54 | 230.69 | 27 |
| DK2 | 70.78 | -1.11 | 332 | 7 |
| EE | 88.91 | -0.72 | 332 | 2 |
| ES | 72.12 | 0 | 174 | 0 |
| FI | 76.19 | -1.11 | 332 | 7 |
| FR | 68.33 | -11.93 | 230.09 | 29 |
| GR | 102.2 | 0.04 | 219.11 | 0 |
| HR | 75.89 | -10.26 | 214.39 | 12 |
| HU | 81.57 | -13.01 | 233.98 | 8 |
| IE-SEM | 88.97 | -10.19 | 278.81 | 31 |
| IT-CALA | 114.93 | 32 | 200 | 0 |
| IT-CNOR | 116.14 | 32 | 211.29 | 0 |
| IT-CSUD | 115.25 | 32 | 200 | 0 |
| IT-NORD | 115.76 | 32 | 211.29 | 0 |
| IT-SARD | 109.86 | 0 | 200 | 0 |
| IT-SICI | 115.08 | 32 | 200 | 0 |
| IT-SUD | 114.96 | 32 | 200 | 0 |
| LT | 88.91 | -0.72 | 332 | 2 |
| LV | 88.91 | -0.72 | 332 | 2 |
| ME | 94.16 | 10.03 | 183.6 | 0 |
| MK | 103.77 | 11.42 | 184 | 0 |
| NL | 73.04 | -10.03 | 229.77 | 44 |
| NO1 | 80.76 | 0.35 | 332 | 0 |
| NO2 | 78.49 | 0.35 | 224 | 0 |
| NO3 | 68.27 | 2.6 | 332 | 0 |
| NO4 | 59.34 | 2.6 | 332 | 0 |
| NO5 | 80.85 | 27.16 | 224 | 0 |
| PL | 80.08 | -13.81 | 176.38 | 13 |
| PT | 72.15 | 0 | 174 | 0 |
| RO | 80.81 | -0.01 | 231.37 | 1 |
| RS | 77.2 | 0.03 | 195.81 | 0 |
| SE1 | 64.48 | -1.11 | 332 | 7 |
| SE2 | 64.48 | -1.11 | 332 | 7 |
| SE3 | 70.28 | -1.11 | 332 | 7 |
| SE4 | 71.18 | -1.11 | 332 | 7 |
| SI | 75.48 | -11.53 | 217.21 | 13 |
| SK | 76.98 | -14.06 | 231.67 | 13 |
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-2023-12".