Analysis of the Impact of Wind on Electricity Prices Based on Selected European Countries

This paper presents an analysis of how wind farms affect electricity prices in four European countries, which although they have invested heavily in wind power differ from each other in the number and type of operational power plants. The countries selected were: Poland, the UK, France and Italy. The approach focused on short-term analysis of market and generation data, to determine if there are behaviors typical for all countries. The results showed that, despite differences in the power mix, all of the countries present similarities in price fluctuations - high power demand and cold weather in the winter period usually overlaps with low wind farm generation levels and electricity can become 2 or even 3 times more expensive. This paper clearly demonstrates the need to develop sufficient means for energy storage hand-in-hand with commissioning increased wind farm capacity.