Research from Cornwall Insight Ireland shows a continuation of the power markets in the Single Electricity Market (SEM) outturning negative. From the 5th of July, all Intraday and day-ahead markets in the SEM have displayed periods where daily market activity has averaged below €0.0/MWh.

Research from Cornwall Insight Ireland shows a continuation of the power markets in the Single Electricity Market (SEM) outturning negative. From the 5th of July, all Intraday and day-ahead markets in the SEM have displayed periods where daily market activity has averaged below €0.0/MWh.

Since April, the SEM has seen a total of 16 negative pricing events. This has predominantly occurred in the Intraday one market (five times) and on the day-ahead market (four times).

Joe Camish, Analyst at Cornwall Insight, said:

"Such negative pricing events have only started to occur this year. The first event observed on the 5th of April when the day-ahead and Intraday one market averaged -€2.5/MWh and -€4.6/MWh respectively.

"This is primarily due to a drop in power demand, because COVID-19 measures and strong periods of renewables output have created a perfect storm for negative prices. These negative pricing events also have predominantly occurred over the weekend (15 out of the 16 times), a period of lower demand compared to weekdays.

"While this may benefit flexibility providers, these low prices will be a cause for concern for generators, whose revenues could be significantly affected if this price cannibalisation effect continues.

"With increasing renewables penetration across the SEM, this will be a trend to watch out for as more intermittent renewables capacity comes online."