Germany generated enough wind power at the weekend for consumers to get free energy. So much was generated by wind turbines in weekend storms that costs fell to below zero. Bloomberg reported that power prices turned negative as wind output reached 39,409 megawatts on Saturday. To balance supply and demand in this situation, energy producers close power stations or pay consumers to take extra electricity from the network. Ahead of the weekend, Bloomberg said it would be the first whole day this year that the average price for electricity was negative, rather than just being negative for a few hours. Wind Europe, which promotes wind power in Europe and globally, said in a press release that European wind energy broke a new record on 28 October.
Independent 1st Nov 2017 read more »