Electricity prices plunged to negative levels in several European countries

During the past week, European electricity markets have seen unusual developments. Electricity prices have reached negative levels in a number of countries.

In particular, a similar problem was reported by operators in Finland. Broadcaster Yle reported prices falling "slightly below zero" amid excess generation of "clean" energy. Based on negative electricity prices, it turns out that producers have to pay citizens for the consumed kilowatts. However, Jukka Russunen, CEO of the local power grid operator, said that in order to keep prices in the market in balance, electricity generation would have to be limited.



The fall in electricity prices to negative levels was also observed in other countries, mainly in northern Europe. According to the Yle TV channel, this is due both to increased energy production at wind and hydroelectric power plants, and to the fact that electricity consumption has decreased due to the situation in Ukraine and a serious warming in Finland.


In the north of Europe as a whole, the generation of wind and solar electricity for the first time in history exceeded the generation of electricity from gas-fired power plants. According to the British think tank Ember, solar and wind stations generated 22% of energy, while gas accounted for only 20%.

Ember agency experts note that these figures confirm that Europe has overcome gas dependence on the Russian Federation, however, in a number of countries, the result of abandoning Russian gas is still visible. The consequences of the energy crisis, which arose as a result of the imposition of sanctions on fuel from the Russian Federation, are most strongly felt in Poland, the UK and a number of countries in Eastern Europe.