Commodities
Home›Commodities›Energy›Negative power prices surge across Europe as solar out…
Negative power prices surge across Europe as solar output rises
Spain, where solar provides about 60 percent of grid electricity, also faced a severe blackout in April 2025 as negative-price periods became more common.
OilPrice reports that Europe is increasingly seeing negative power prices as renewable generation, especially solar, takes a larger share of the energy mix. The outlet says this trend is tied to the growing share of variable wind and solar power, which can create excess supply and waste during peak production hours.
The article links the shift to Europe’s broader post-2022 push to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. It also argues that the region needs to expand energy storage capacity to help manage volatility and reduce the risk to energy security.
Spain is highlighted as a case study, with renewables accounting for about 60 percent of electricity on the Spanish grid. OilPrice adds that while Spain benefited from lower energy prices during the most recent global energy crisis, it also became the site of a “most severe and unprecedented” blackout in April 2025, underscoring the trade-offs of rapid solar buildout.
The outlet concludes that continuing mass-scale solar deployment will require minimizing those downsides, including by ramping up storage capacity to limit the frequency and impact of negative power prices.