Electricity prices in Germany 2023

Germany's electricity grid combines the most ambitious renewables expansion in the EU with the fastest fossil retirement: by 2025, wind and solar together delivered 56% of public-grid generation. The country shut its last three nuclear reactors in April 2023 and is phasing out coal by 2038 (or earlier under coalition agreements). Bundesnetzagentur, the federal regulator, oversees four TSOs — TenneT, 50Hertz, Amprion and TransnetBW — that together operate the joint DE-LU bidding zone.

The country's north hosts vast offshore wind clusters in the North and Baltic Seas, while the south depends on imports and hydropower from Austria/Switzerland; the proposed bidding-zone split has been politically deferred. Day-ahead prices on EPEX SPOT show extreme intraday volatility — solar overproduction frequently drives midday prices below zero in spring, while late-winter dunkelflauten push them above €500/MWh.