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Negative electricity prices registered in nearly all European energy markets (www.pv-magazine.com)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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"Spanish consultancy AleaSoft Energy Forecasting recorded negative hourly electricity prices for all but one European energy market it analyzed during the first week of April, including in the Spanish and Portuguese markets for the first time. It also registered an all-time production record for photovoltaic energy in Portugal and the second highest value ever recorded in Italy"

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Came from a shit hole country, I can't comprehend what is the meaning of "negative electricity price".

If the electric company set a price on electricity, let say $0.2/KWh. What stopping them from keep charging that price no matter what's the electric production at the moment. They can even rise price when demand is high, and keep a fixed price when demand is low.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

In simple terms with caveats and nuances ignored, at times there can be so much power being produced during times of low demand that the electric companies / systems will lower prices on electricity to incentivize its use. In some cases, the amount of power being generated exceeds demand so much that prices can go negative, and they essentially pay others to use it.

There are many reasons for it, and I'm hardly an expert, but essentially some power sources are unpredictable or unstable (ex: solar power is only generating during the day) and others can't be shut down quickly/easily in response to demand. So, this is one way to deal with excess electricity production.