German power prices dropped below zero on the first trading day of the year, an increasingly frequent phenomenon in Europe as renewables expand.

German power prices dropped below zero on the first trading day of the year, an increasingly frequent phenomenon in Europe as renewables expand.

Intraday prices in Germany, the region’s biggest market, turned negative during four hours overnight as wind-energy output reached as much as 40 gigawatts, far outstripping demand."

  • DrunkenPirate@feddit.orgEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    The dips occur more often in last two years. We build more renewables. There’s definitely a need to build energy storages. Please don’t forget that the price dips increases the funding need for the small pv-owners. They‘ll get the EEG (fixed governmental subsidies ) price for each Watt they produce. Only bigger pv‘s get nothing/ cut off the grid for that time. So, negative power prices costs much governmental tax money - the difference of market price and the EEG fixed price.

    Source: amount of days with negative price https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/618751/umfrage/anzahl-der-stunden-mit-negativen-strompreisen-in-deutschland/

    • leisesprecher@feddit.orgEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      I’m not arguing against the need, I’m saying that the economic incentives for private investors are not really great.

      • DrunkenPirate@feddit.orgEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        Oh sorry. Didn‘t get your point. For what I‘ve read, the driver of PV this year were mid-sized companies to get cheaper power. And small PV‘s for house owners. Yes, investors and big PV farms rather look for battery storages.