Interactive: Platts Renewable Energy Price Explorer

(Latest update: May 14, 2025)

Oversupply from solar and falling demand deflated the market value of renewables in April with Spanish solar hit hardest, Platts Renewable Energy Price Explorer shows.

In Spain, the volume-weighted monthly average capture price for solar plunged to Eur14.16/MWh with the technology only capturing 53% of April's wholesale spot price average.

The capture price halved for a second month in a row, but remains above last year's April average, mainly due to higher gas prices.

The Explorer shows the "capture price" renewable energy generators receive based on hourly output and pricing data on a monthly average basis.

As such capture prices take account of the cannibalization effect caused by Europe's growing fleet of solar and wind farms and are a more accurate reflection of value than wholesale power prices.

In Germany, April solar values fell to the lowest since summer 2020, capturing just 59% of the average spot price amid a rising number of negative hourly prices, partly due to the later Easter dates compared to 2024.

Solar output rose 33% year-over-year and replaced wind at the top of Germany's power mix for April.

The number of negative hourly prices across Europe hit a record high in April, led by Spain and Portugal. Spanish solar capture prices are forecast to recover as demand is set to rise going into summer, but the April 28 blackout could cloud the rapid expansion of solar in Spain. While the exact causes of the blackout are still under investigation, current solar output sees unprecedented levels of curtailments in Spain.

Elsewhere, wind capture prices remained robust as European wind output in April fell year-over-year for a seventh consecutive month. Wind capture rates in most markets are close to 100% except Spain, where it dipped to 87%.

Overall, combined wind and solar generation in Europe's five biggest markets is down 10% on year in the first four months with the 20% drop in wind to 116 TWh outweighing record solar generation of around 55 TWh.

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The dial chart shows monthly wind, solar, nuclear, gas and coal-fired generation across Europe's five biggest power markets. Click a segment for more detail.