3 ms·
How is this "cheapest solar"? There are many instances where solar electricity price is negative.
by ptaipale 10y ago
How is this "cheapest solar"? There are many instances where solar electricity price is negative.
- unchocked 10y agoThis is a bulk power purchase agreement, not a spot price.
- yessql 10y agoThis is the correct answer.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- ars 10y ago> There are many instances where solar electricity price is negative. That's not how it works. When someone wants to buy power they get bids, the bids are sorted by price, and capacity. Then they work their way through the list, cheapest first, till they meet the capacity they need. And then pay the (same) TOP price to everyone! NOT the price they bid. So "negative" is just a tactic to get a good position on the list. Risky if you are a normal fuel-based plant, since you might actually have to make good on it. Not risky for solar power (but not something they actually want). If everyone was solar, they would never use negative prices - they might actually have to make good on that. It only works because their capacity is so low they are never the top bid.
- Fede_V 10y agoThanks for the explanation, that makes a lot of sense.
- barney54 10y agoI'm not sure there are cases where solar is negative, but there is with wind. That's because in the IS wind producers get paid the wind production tax credit when they produce electricity regardless of demand. So you can have negative prices over night when you get a lot of wind and low electricity demand.