State of European Power · January 2026
State of European Power — January 2026
Published 2026-02-02 · every figure recomputed live from the Voltcast production database (last: 2026-08-23T04:07Z) · reproduce any number via the API
43
negative price-hours across 48 zones in January 2026
346.14
average day-ahead price, €/MWh, across covered zones
4
zones that cleared below zero at least once
January 2026 closed with 43 negative price-hours across the 48 European bidding zones with full coverage this month — 4 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 PT (average 71.04 €/MWh); the priciest was UA (8272.21 €/MWh) — a 8201 €/MWh gap between two markets inside one coupled European system, which is the whole story of constrained interconnection in one number.
ES logged the most negative hours (15), and the widest intra-month price range belonged to UA: from 2300 to 15000 €/MWh (12700 €/MWh of spread — the raw material for every battery business case). The single deepest print of the month was -8.31 €/MWh in PL on 2026-01-02.
Every zone, one table
| Zone | Avg €/MWh | Min | Max | Negative hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL | 93.43 | 0 | 438 | 0 |
| AT | 141.46 | 25.57 | 343.91 | 0 |
| BE | 108.57 | 15.11 | 219.4 | 0 |
| BG | 148.55 | 18.11 | 455.24 | 0 |
| CH | 133.25 | 85.2 | 252.65 | 0 |
| CZ | 130.91 | 34.99 | 260.1 | 0 |
| DE-LU | 110.14 | -0.01 | 276.74 | 4 |
| DK1 | 105.63 | 2.55 | 277.38 | 0 |
| DK2 | 109.93 | 2.56 | 276.15 | 0 |
| EE | 154.39 | 7.65 | 441.58 | 0 |
| ES | 71.53 | -0.44 | 183.15 | 15 |
| FI | 117.19 | 7.65 | 334.57 | 0 |
| FR | 100.7 | 9.58 | 213.59 | 0 |
| GB | 97.09 | 31.67 | 278.46 | 0 |
| GR | 108.68 | 0 | 378.49 | 0 |
| HR | 143.17 | 27.05 | 342.09 | 0 |
| HU | 150.41 | 26.86 | 418.74 | 0 |
| IE-SEM | 126.95 | 48.39 | 287.39 | 0 |
| IT-CALA | 127.52 | 10 | 206.28 | 0 |
| IT-CNOR | 133.9 | 89.94 | 215 | 0 |
| IT-CSUD | 132.13 | 82.02 | 206.28 | 0 |
| IT-NORD | 133.84 | 89.94 | 215 | 0 |
| IT-SARD | 132.07 | 82.02 | 206.28 | 0 |
| IT-SICI | 127.52 | 10 | 206.28 | 0 |
| IT-SUD | 127.58 | 10 | 206.28 | 0 |
| LT | 152.42 | 7.65 | 441.58 | 0 |
| LV | 153.39 | 7.65 | 441.58 | 0 |
| ME | 103.41 | 0 | 312.01 | 0 |
| MK | 121.85 | 0.1 | 365 | 0 |
| NL | 107.66 | 5.99 | 249.01 | 0 |
| NO1 | 108.92 | 38.1 | 295.65 | 0 |
| NO2 | 105.33 | 37.61 | 256.34 | 0 |
| NO3 | 102.2 | 37.45 | 241.92 | 0 |
| NO4 | 71.18 | 7.39 | 253.91 | 0 |
| NO5 | 107.07 | 67.1 | 272.93 | 0 |
| PL | 140.23 | -2.35 | 512.16 | 9 |
| PT | 71.04 | -0.44 | 183.15 | 15 |
| RO | 150.51 | 25.71 | 455.24 | 0 |
| RS | 118.03 | 0 | 400.2 | 0 |
| SE1 | 87.94 | 5.11 | 265.71 | 0 |
| SE2 | 88.17 | 4.68 | 267.06 | 0 |
| SE3 | 101.5 | 3.21 | 273.18 | 0 |
| SE4 | 105.74 | 2.71 | 297.24 | 0 |
| SI | 139.75 | 27.28 | 320.79 | 0 |
| SK | 142.52 | 27.79 | 365.35 | 0 |
| TR | 2895.43 | 715.11 | 3400 | 0 |
| UA | 8272.21 | 2300 | 15000 | 0 |
| XK | 101.54 | 0 | 700 | 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-2026-01".
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