PRZOOM - /newswire/ - San Francisco, CA, United States, 2013/02/21 - Wholesale electricity costs in Germany decrease in 2012 vs. 2008 by a total of €6.145b driven by increased solar PV generation (conventional generation is displaced by renewable generation with lower marginal costs) - RenewableAnalytics.com.

As Solar electricity from decentralized systems replaces centrally produced electricity, centralized power producers experience lower levels of capacity utilization during summer month. As centralized power producers try to increase commercial and residential electricity rates this increases the attractiveness of decentralized solar systems: speeding up the process of solar adoption. In Germany, in December, €213m was saved during the day and €213m at night, for a total of €426m. Total difference 2012: €6.145b. In December 2012 solar power generation had a share of 1.12% of total electricity generation (compared to 2.04% in November 2012). In January 2013 solar power contributed 0.83% to the total generation (compared to 1.36% in January 2012). Jan 2013 lower than Jan 2012 although 7.6 GW more installed due to very cold and cloudy first 3 weeks of January. During months of longer and more intense days, a much larger drop in pricing has occurred, and it takes place almost entirely due to the price difference during peak solar production hours. Impact on pricing will continue if current market framework remains in place. The discussion about the need for a new electricity market design has already started in Germany.

2012 prices were reliably below 2008 prices, and two main trends indicate that a large portion of these price drops were correlated with solar power production: 1) the largest pricing drops tended to occur during the months with the most sunlight, and 2) during months with little sunlight, prices decreased roughly equally during the day and night, whereas during the summer prices decreased much more during daylight than nighttime hours. These two macro trends serve to verify what seems clear when looking at the pricing during any specific day on the German spot market: 2012 prices dip when the sun comes up and stay suppressed until the sun sets; 2008 prices spike during the day instead, as demand peaks. The influx of solar power during 2012 has drastically reduced German spot market electricity pricing.

Agency / Source: Renewable Analytics, LLC

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