Negative electricity prices were once a rare exception. Today, they are becoming a recurring feature of the energy landscape and their impact on energy-intensive industries is growing fast. Understanding why this happens and how to respond is essential for keeping your installation profitable in a volatile market.
Why are negative prices increasing?
It starts with the strong growth of renewable energy generation. Solar and wind installations are producing more electricity than ever. On bright, sunny or windy days, renewable output can surge far beyond the level of local demand. When that happens, especially during weekends or periods of low industrial activity, the market simply cannot absorb all the energy that is being produced. Prices drop, and in some cases they fall below zero.
At the same time, the grid is not always capable of handling these sudden production peaks. Structural congestion and limited transport capacity make it even harder to inject surplus power into the network. Although battery systems and flexible assets are growing, they are not yet widely deployed enough to stabilise the market. As a result, oversupply regularly turns into negative prices.
What does this mean for your installation?
For producers, negative prices are not just a market signal, they directly affect your revenue. When prices drop below zero, your installation may be producing at full capacity while your income disappears. And from April 2026 onward, the consequences might become even more significant because the Flemish government will no longer grant green energy certificates during any quarter-hour with negative electricity prices.
That means a single negative 15 min interval is enough to lose support, even on days with perfect production conditions. Injecting electricity during those moments can also become costly, as you may end up paying to deliver your power to the grid. For high-capacity installations, the financial impact quickly adds up.
This shifting landscape makes one thing clear, relying on traditional support mechanisms is no longer enough. To remain profitable, installations will need to become more flexible and better aligned with market dynamics.
How flexibility turns the challenge into an opportunity
While negative prices create risk, they also introduce a new opportunity, one based on smart control rather than static production. By using real-time data and intelligent steering, you can decide when to inject power, when to consume locally and when to store energy for later.
This is exactly what Entras enables with its ‘Endustries by Entras’ software. Instead of reacting too late, your installation automatically adjusts to price movements the moment they occur. When prices turn negative, the system shifts your production into local consumption, activating assets like heat pumps, hot & cold buffers, e-boilers, CHP, solar panels, wind turbines etc. And when prices rise again, your installation is ready to inject at the most profitable moment.
What used to be a loss becomes a managed, predictable outcome.
A flexible future
Negative electricity prices are here to stay and will become even more common as renewable production continues to rise. The installations that succeed in this new reality are the ones that can adapt quickly and intelligently in real-time.
With Entras, flexibility becomes your competitive edge. Instead of losing revenue when the market turns, you stay in control. Negative prices won’t stop the energy transition, but flexibility will determine who benefits from it.
