Wind power and photovoltaic production records in Europe

The German market had its first day of 2020 with a negative daily price yesterday, February 16, thanks to rising temperatures, lower demand and high wind production. Spain broke its historical record of instant photovoltaic production twice last week and Germany’s daily wind energy production also set a record. This week, prices are expected to rise and in some cases close to those of the week of February 3.
Solar photovoltaic and solar thermal production, wind power production and electricity demand

In the week just finished, solar production fell in most European markets compared to the week of February 3. However, some markets saw their highest daily records so far in 2020. In the case of Spain, the record for maximum instantaneous photovoltaic production was broken again this week, which rose this time to 5264 MW at 13: 40 of February 15. Another historical record last week was the daily production of the photovoltaic and solar thermal system in Spain, of 48 GWh on February 16, the largest since it began this year. All European markets analyzed exceeded the maximum daily solar generation levels of 2020, with Germany being the most significant with 96 GWh.

As for the variations compared to the previous week, there were decreases of 19% and 3.2% in solar production in the markets of Germany and France respectively. For the fourth consecutive week, solar power generation increased in Spain, reaching an increase of 7.4%. Similarly, the production of the Italian market rose for the fifth consecutive week and registered an increase of 4.3%.

According to the interannual analysis from February 1 to 16, the promotions were slightly lower than in previous weeks. The rise in Germany was only 0.2%, in Spain 14% and in Italy 8.2%.

Solar production values ??close to last week’s level are expected for this week.

Source: Prepared by AleaSoft with data from ENTSO-E, RTE, REN, REE and TERNA.


On the other hand, wind farm production behaved heterogeneously in the markets of Europe during the past week. The 1033 GWh produced on February 11 in Germany broke the historical daily production record. It was mainly for this reason that production increased by 54% in this market compared to the week of February 3. In the French market the rise was 51%, while in Spain and Italy the falls were 1.7% and 6.8%, respectively.

From 1 to 16 of this month, the generation from this renewable source increased in Germany by 41% and in France by 72%, in inter-annual terms. In contrast, the rest of the markets continue with a lower level in the interannual comparison. The decreases were 11% and 12%, in Spain and Italy, respectively.

In AleaSoft it is expected that during this week the wind turbines production will increase compared to the previous week in Germany and Portugal and that it will fall in the rest of the electricity markets of the continent.

Récords de producción eólica y fotovoltaica en Europa