From pv magazine France
Negative electricity prices surged in France throughout the first half of 2024. French grid operator RTE reported 233 negative hours in the January-June period, compared to just 53 throughout the first six months of 2023.
Solar consultancy KiloWattSol recorded 308 negative price hours by Aug. 23 – a record for France. Even in early 2020, when pandemic lockdowns cut electricity consumption, only 75 negative hours were recorded.
RTE recorded two days with negative average prices, on April 6 and June 15, marking only the fifth and sixth such occurrences since 2001. The previous instance occurred on July 2, 2023. For the first time, France surpassed Germany in negative price hours throughout the first half of 2024.
Spot market prices for electricity turn negative when production exceeds consumption. In France, this has been driven by renewable energy growth, the recovery of nuclear production since shutdowns in 2022, and low electricity demand. Summer production peaks, particularly from solar, coincided across Europe, limiting the market's ability to regulate itself.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
1 comment
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.