The German power grid only requires a fraction of the conventional power plants that are continuously running in order to maintain grid stability, Germany’s Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has found in a report on minimum production scenarios, according to Clean Energy Wire.

“Only a small part of the conventional generation capacity is needed for the grid,” said BNetzA President Jochen Homann, adding that many plants are slow to react on changes to spot electricity prices due to heat supply obligations.

The agency analysed several periods of negative power prices, when production is much higher than demand, between 2016 and 2018 and found that 18 to 26 gigawatts (GW) had been fed into the grid by conventional plants duri ng that time, while only 4 GW to 8 GW would have been needed for grid stability.