• Europe’s solar fleet pushes prices negative more frequently
• Solar will generate more power as panel installations rise

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European power prices fell below zero again as production from solar farms overwhelms the grid early in the afternoon.

It’s an increasingly common phenomenon as Europe races to build more cheap solar farms to cut demand for fossil fuels. Intraday prices in Germany, the region’s biggest power market, turned negative from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, according to data from Epex Spot SE.

Power generation can be inflexible, especially with subsidies to encourage more renewable producers. Sometimes it can be cheaper for a plant to pay consumers to use more electricity than it would be to shut down for an hour or two. And some renewable output – like rooftop solar in the Netherlands – gets paid regardless of the market price. Those factors help push prices below zero.

read more at : bloomberg.com;

photo: bloomberg.com;