Dynamic analysis of the German day-ahead electricity spot market

- Dynamic merit order effects of wind and solar power on spot prices are found in the German day-ahead electricity spot market.
- Wind power shocks have a more prolonged negative effect on spot prices than solar power shocks.
- When comparing past German empirical results, lower static negative merit order effects of wind and solar power are found.

This paper analyzes the dynamic behavior of day-ahead spot prices in the German electricity spot market due to positive structural shocks in wind and solar power. It uses a dynamic structural vector autoregressive model to estimate the related structural impulse response functions. The estimates suggest that wind power shocks have a more prolonged negative effect on spot prices than solar power shocks. Significant autocorrelations of wind power for larger lags indicate these results. The total negative merit order effect of a solar power shock is larger when using a reasonable model specification. One reason might be that solar power shocks coincide with demand peaks. However, results regarding the relation of the effects of wind and solar should be dealt with carefully because these results do not hold for all specifications. Past static estimates show differences in the total average negative merit order effects. These estimates might be overstated if wind and solar power dynamics are transferred to the merit order effects.