If you like cheap electricity, Germany just delivered. Day-ahead prices for Saturday fell 53% from the prior day to €42.14/MWh, their softest reading since June, according to Epex Spot. That put Germany unusually below France, where power typically costs less.
Around lunchtime, when solar output swells, prices in both markets briefly went negative. In Germany, they reached minus €19/MWh at 2 p.m.
The big mover in Germany is wind. Bloomberg models based on ECMWF forecasts point to generation peaking near 50 gigawatts at 4 p.m., enough to exceed expected demand at that hour. That flood of low-cost supply helped flip the usual price relationship with France, where rates ran nearly twice as high on the day.
France is wrestling with a longer-than-usual slump in nuclear availability, so it has leaned harder on gas plants. Over the past week, French gas-fired output peaked at an average 3.29 GW a day, more than double the 1.27 GW average in the same period last year, RTE data shows.
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Germany's expanding wind and solar fleet can flood the market with bargain electrons when weather cooperates, but prices snap back when output fades and the system leans on fossil plants or imports. Translation for your budget: expect more frequent swings between ultra-cheap midday power and pricier hours, especially when neighboring countries are short on nuclear or burning more gas.
