Solar's rise giving traders a 'devil horns' problem

London

EUROPE'S power traders have a colourful name for the way the rise of solar power is distorting the electricity industry: devil horns.

That's the shape formed by intraday power prices that increasingly have to adapt to greater flows from solar farms in the middle of the day. As photovoltaics feed more supplies to the grid, power prices crash and then rise as the sun sets, leaving a distinctive formation in charts.

More than an amusing oddity, the dramatic swings indicate the scale of the challenge grid managers are facing in smoothing out supplies from plants that only generate when the sun shines or the wind blows. The pattern is becoming increasingly famili…