It takes about a minute or two to curtail a solar or a wind power plant - if you’re slow.

Negative prices happen because plants are still subsidised during negative price periods. The 4 and 6 hour rules in Germany only apply to newer plants, and many phases of negative prices are shorter than that.

France has the 1 hour rule apply to all renewable plants, but there are still subsidies available in the form of time-shiftable origination certificates.

But all of this is improving and we are going to see prices go less negative in future.

Thank you for being a voice of sanity. The idea that once renewables are fully built out, and grid-scale storage is available and subsidies are no longer needed, that prices will be free or negative makes absolutely no sense.

Market prices for power will possibly be 0 for some slices of time in the day. After all, the marginal cost of producing power it is 0.

But most of the time, prices will be positive since batteries will smooth out demand.

> Here in Europe it is explicit that subsidies are not paid during negative prices.

This may be approximately true for new plants coming online.

But existing plants get to keep their old subsidy schemes for a period of N years, at least here in Germany.

>This is simply not true. Here in Europe it is explicit that subsidies are not paid during negative prices.

Well in Europe you can sell guarantee of origins. This drives down opex for a solar plant, at least the plants i manage in my job on the day-ahead market.

It results in a nonzero strike price, yes.