This European country is promising ‘bargain’ energy on sunny days to use up excess solar power

Solar and wind power have hit record highs in Europe, sparking hope for energy independence in the face of soaring fuel prices.

But outdated power grids and limited battery storage are struggling to keep up.

In the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, renewable generators are increasingly being paid to shut off – a process known as ‘curtailment’ – when supplies become so high that they outstrip demand and overload the grid, making it unstable.

But could it be cheaper to give the surplus energy away for free?

Last month, the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced it was trialling a new system to supply homes with discounted power on windy days.

In its Summer Outlook released on 14 April, the country’s National Energy System Operator (NESO), which is responsible for keeping the network stable, built on this promise by encouraging grid operators to boost energy usage when supplies are high.

This could mean paying households and factories to consume excess power – a UK first.

Solar surge drives dip in UK energy demand

Renewables produced a record 44 per cent of UK electricity in 2025, up from just 3 per cent in 2000.

In its recent report, NESO said the UK's supply could exceed demand “at times this summer”, particularly due to a proliferation of home solar.

It could also see the UK – a net importer of energy – becoming an energy exporter at times, NESO added. However, Brexit and a rise in renewables across Europe means that exporting won’t always be straightforward.

So how else can the country manage surplus power?

Already, variable tariffs encourage households to use electricity when demand is low, by reducing costs during off-peak hours. Now, rewards such as discounts or direct payments could be provided for using energy when supplies are high.

That means “consumers could get a real bargain when turning on the washing machine when it’s really sunny”, says Jess Ralston, head of energy at UK non-profit the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

Why do renewables need to be turned off when supplies are high?

Europe’s power grids, which transport energy to homes and businesses, were built to deliver centralised, consistent power from coal and gas stations.

Electricity supply and demand must be balanced in real time to ensure reliability. If the amount of energy fed into the grid does not match consumption, it disrupts the frequency required for transportation through the grid, which can lead to blackouts.

The variability of weather-dependent renewable energy makes it difficult to predict output, while the decentralised nature of offshore or remote wind and solar farms makes it harder to transmit the energy they produce to towns and cities where it's needed.

Without adequate means to store surplus renewable energy, operators are paid to switch off to avoid overloading the grid when production outpaces demand.

Germany, France and the Netherlands together curtailed around 3.9 TWh of renewable power in 2025 – up 21 per cent on the previous year – according to a report by market analyst Montel Energy. Each country also set new highs for hours of negative electricity prices, which occur when power supply exceeds demand and can mean cheaper bills for customers on variable tariffs.

The growing popularity of home solar panels is making it even trickier for bodies like NESO to predict demand, as many households now rely less heavily on the grid on sunny days.

The amount of solar on the UK grid has more than doubled over the last 10 years, and now amounts to 22 gigawatts – roughly equivalent to the output of 30 large coal-fired power plants.

This trend is expected to rise even faster as the UK introduces plug-in solar and households seek to shield themselves from an energy market destabilised by the conflict in Iran.

Is giving excess energy away a better solution?

In 2025, Great Britain spent £363 million (€418m) on direct curtailment payments and £1 billion (€1.16bn) on replacing curtailed wind energy, according to Montel Energy. When renewables are switched off due to bottlenecks, they must be replaced with conventional energy like gas that the grid is able to handle.

These costs ultimately filter down into energy bills.

It may therefore be more beneficial on all fronts to pay households, businesses and manufacturers to use this excess energy instead.

As grid infrastructure is modernised to better suit the nature of renewables and battery storage capabilities increase, oversupply is likely to become less of an issue. The continued electrification of cars and heating will also raise electricity demand, further offsetting the problem.