Overview
- Germany logged roughly 575 hours of negative wholesale power prices by Dec. 16, exceeding last year’s mark by about 118 hours.
- Bundesnetzagentur reports that most negative-price periods stem from photovoltaic output during midday demand troughs, with wind a secondary factor.
- Curtailment and redispatch costs totaled about €2.7 billion in 2024 after more than €3.3 billion in 2023, expenses passed on to customers via network charges.
- The Greens have backed a Solarbonus to route surplus midday solar to households using digital tariffs and smart meters, though only an estimated 3–5% of homes have such meters.
- Officials are pushing storage and grid upgrades, with Economy Minister Katherina Reiche signaling faster battery approvals, as recent wind lulls highlighted shortfalls that short-duration batteries cannot cover.