Spain and Portugal recorded the highest number of hours with negative electricity prices in Europe in the second quarter of 2026. Spain counted 596 hours below zero, Portugal 462. That is according to Montel's European Power Market Outlook Q3 2026, as reported by pv magazine.
The figures
- Spain: 596 hours with a negative price.
- Portugal: 462 hours.
- France: 370 hours.
- Greece: 317 hours.
- The Nordic markets saw considerably fewer negative-price periods.
For scale: a quarter has roughly 2,180 hours. In Spain, the price was below zero for more than a quarter of the time, mostly around midday.
Why it happened
European solar generation beat its previous record by almost 20% in the second quarter. Stable high-pressure weather and abundant sunshine caused recurring midday surpluses, which drove intraday prices to record negative levels. In late April, prices in some markets approached the technical floor of −500 €/MWh. That floor has since been lowered to −600 €/MWh.
The differences between countries come down to how fast solar capacity has grown and how demand is spread over the day. Iberia combines a lot of solar with limited interconnection to the rest of Europe, so midday surpluses have few places to go.
Cheap at noon, expensive in the evening
The same quarter also showed the other side. During the heatwave at the end of June, daily and weekly prices in Spain repeatedly rose above 100 €/MWh, right after a period of negative midday prices. In Germany, prices peaked above 600 €/MWh in the evening. The spread between a sunny afternoon and the evening peak is growing, and that spread is exactly what flexible assets earn their money on.
Flexibility moves to intraday and balancing
Montel notes a shift in behaviour: some flexible thermal plants, storage operators and industrial consumers no longer bid at negative prices in the day-ahead auction. They keep their capacity for the intraday or balancing markets instead. That can make intraday prices more volatile and increases the demand for flexibility that reacts quickly. As structural measures, the report points to grid reinforcement, smaller bidding zones and faster curtailment and redispatch.
What this means for your projects
A solar installation that keeps injecting at negative prices pays to produce. A battery that only follows a fixed schedule misses the hours that matter. An EMS that plans ahead on day-ahead prices, curtails solar when the price drops below zero, charges storage on the midday surplus and discharges into the evening peak turns that volatility into revenue. The Voltmasters EMS does this brand-independently, per quarter hour. In Spain and Portugal it works with the local market prices, meets the requirements of the local grid operators and runs in Spanish and Portuguese.
A preview for the rest of Europe
Iberia is not an exception, it is ahead of the curve. Every market that keeps adding solar faster than flexibility will see more hours below zero and sharper evening peaks. For installers that means designing every new solar project with curtailment and storage in mind from day one, instead of adding them later.
Next step
Working on a solar or storage project where smart control can make the difference? Get in touch or read more about the Voltmasters EMS.
Source: Spain and Portugal record Europe's highest number of hours with negative electricity prices in Q2 (pv magazine, 6 October 2026), based on Montel's European Power Market Outlook Q3 2026.