Are decreasing subsidies a blow to the wind industry? Danish wind farm owners face negative electricity prices. Effective 30th November 2009, the Nordic Power Exchange Nordpool lowers the minimum price for a MWh of electricity from 0 Euro to -200 Euro in order to increase the effectiveness of the market forcing power generators to consider reducing their electricity generation or having to pay for delivering electricity.
Whereas conventional power plants are managed by internal or external control rooms, the majority of Danish wind turbines are currently trading their electricity in the spot market with production purely defined by the wind conditions. With the coming negative price floors, a large number of wind turbine owners could be forced to monitor the pricing on the power exchange as well. Zero price situations are usually created by low demand coupled with strong winds and cold temperatures for combined heat and electricity plants to produce. This is mostly seen during weekends in the winter season.