In Finland and Germany, the cost of electricity is negative. I explain how this is possible

Finland is a northern country with a harsh climate. The demand for electricity is not only in the industrial sector, but also among private consumers. Just four years ago, the share of wind-generating capacities there was only 1%. But with the development of this direction, an interesting picture appears: in the peaks of electricity generation by wind generators in strong wind, the cost of electricity per 1 MW * h decreases.

By 2020, Finland's plans were to enter share of 38% in power generation from the wind. In 2016. the share of power generation from two nuclear power plants was 18%, from hydroelectric power plants - 4%. Finland has many rivers and 220 small hydroelectric power plants. Finland supplied most of its electricity from Russia.

With the advent of a large number of wind turbines, the power system becomes difficult to manage and predict production. It all depends on the weather. And since electric tariffs are tied to exchange indicators, then when the supply (generation volume) is exceeded and the demand from consumers is low, prices can decrease and even become negative:

This picture emerged in Finland in May 2020. during quarantine measures, when enterprises were suspended and power generation continued. The same picture was there in January 2020, when a strong wind blew for several days, and the winter in Finland was warm at that time (low electricity consumption among the population).

Even at that time, there were workers in the pulp and paper industry on strike. And these are the number 1 enterprises in the field of electricity consumption in Finland.

The price of wholesale electricity prices in Finland on the website of the N ord P ool exchange: https://www.nordpoolgroup.com

But negative prices on the stock exchange does not mean that the same prices will be for the population. Usually, the population pays the tariff for the transmission of electricity through the networks and changes are only 0.03 Euro per 1 MW. And then, only 10% of private consumers. They explain this simply: so as not to shock the population. And the negative price is the price for the grid transmission companies.

The negative price brings losses to coal-fired power generation. Those. raw materials for them have a cost, unlike wind generators, the costs of the latter are only maintenance and scheduled repairs.

As of today, electricity in Finland, according to exchange quotations, has a cost 55.6 Euro / MW. This is about 5 rubles / kW if recalculated at the exchange rate (for 1 rub. higher than tariffs in the suburbs). Average salary - 2000 Euro (184 thousand. rub). In principle, you can heat the house there with electricity and not save money.

Finland with incidents of negative electricity prices is not unique. This happened in Germany as well:

And in Germany at that time no one paid extra to consumers. Savings in companies go to the development of renewable energy sources. Their situation is similar to the Russian reality: regardless of the situation on the market, everyone pays according to the established tariffs.

This happens in other EU countries as well. In the UK, in such cases, they act simply: they stop the wind turbines. Which is bad from the point of view of the social orientation of this business. There is an opportunity to make a bonus to the population, but this is suppressed.

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