UK Solar Farms Produce Record Amount of Power as Capacity Grows

(Bloomberg) -- The UK produced a record amount of solar power Tuesday afternoon as the country’s growing fleet of panels absorbed the sunny spring weather. 

Solar panels in the UK were generating as much as 12.2 gigawatts of solar power just after midday, according to the National Energy System Operator. That record is likely to be broken later this year as peak production usually happens in the middle of summer and as the UK keeps adding new solar capacity. 

A flood of solar power production in Europe is helping to send wholesale electricity prices plunging in Europe. France saw prices as low as negative €413 ($445) a megawatt hour earlier on Tuesday.

Power prices in the UK weren’t quite as extreme as in France, but did fall to as low as negative £1.80 ($2.33) per megawatt hour.

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