06 Apr 2020 | 09:40 UTC — London
Weak demand, high winds drive UK prices negative Sunday
Highlights
Hourly prices dip to minus GBP19.00/MWh
Demand down 20% on year
CCGT, nuclear averaging under 5 GW each
London — Strong wind generation combined with low electricity demand to deliver three hours of negative power prices in the UK on Sunday, system and exchange data showed Monday.
Day-ahead prices sank to minus GBP19.00/MWh (-$23.33/MWh) between 1400-1500 GMT and averaged GBP6.86/MWh for the day, Nord Pool data showed.
Average electricity demand of 22.82 GW was 20% down on year and 9% on week, Elexon data showed.
Wind generation averaged 11 GW through the day, with CCGTs and nuclear both at 4.5 GW. Separately, Drax Insights data showed solar averaging 2.23 GW.
On Friday electricity balancing and settlement code manager Elexon said UK electricity demand had fallen between 15% and 19% since the coronavirus lockdown started on March 23.
In the week before the lockdown, demand had already fallen by 6-7% in a year-on-year comparison, it said.
Estimated meter readings are to be allowed in electricity settlement "to reflect known reductions in customer demand as a result of the coronavirus lockdown," the manager said.
This would protect suppliers from additional settlement costs from using "business as usual" estimates not designed to reflect rapid market-wide changes in customer demand, it said.