Residual Load in Europe: Demand Minus Wind and Solar, to 2026-11-12 (12 November 2026)

• From 13 October to 12 November 2026, wind and solar supplied 186% of demand in Sweden North-Central (SE2), the highest of 34 European bidding zones, and a median 23% across all of them.
• Wind and solar covered at least half of demand in more than half of all hours in 3 of 34 zones (Sweden North-Central (SE2), Sweden North (SE1) and Italy South), and covered all of it in at least one hour in 15 zones.
• The highest hour of residual load was a median 5% below the highest hour of demand, so wind and solar reduced the peak other plants had to meet by that much in the 13 October to 12 November 2026 window.
• In 30 of 34 zones the typical day's residual load peaked in the evening, between 17:00 and 22:00 local time.
• Germany and Luxembourg, the largest zone in the set, had an average residual load of 34,532 MW against average demand of 56,550 MW, ranging from -9,272 MW to 67,984 MW hour to hour.

Coverage differs enormously between zones. Wind and solar supplied 186% of demand in Sweden North-Central (SE2) and 2% in Slovakia. The five highest were Sweden North-Central (SE2), Sweden North (SE1), Italy South, Italy Sicily and Greece; 8 of 34 zones were below 10%, including Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Norway South-East (NO1) and 5 more. The median zone sat at 23%. Coverage above 100% means the zone produced more wind and solar than it used over the window.

Full coverage is common in a few zones and rare in most. Wind and solar were at or above demand in at least one hour in 15 of 34 zones, and in at least a tenth of all hours in 7 of them (Sweden North-Central (SE2), Sweden North (SE1), Italy South, Italy Sicily and 3 more). In 3 zones they covered at least half of demand in more than half of the hours: Sweden North-Central (SE2), Sweden North (SE1) and Italy South. The data does not say where the surplus went: it can be exported, stored or curtailed.

Wind and solar cut the peak far less than they cut the energy. Over the window the highest hour of residual load was a median 5% below the highest hour of demand, against a median 23% energy share. The reduction ranged from 0% in Norway South-East (NO1) to 45% in Sweden North-Central (SE2). In the single hour of highest demand, wind and solar supplied a median 10% of demand, so plants and imports that can be called on are still needed for the hours that set the peak, even where wind and solar supply a large share of the energy.

The residual peak moves to the evening. On the typical day, residual load peaked between 17:00 and 22:00 local time in 30 of 34 zones, and in 8 zones it peaked later than demand itself does, for example Sweden North-Central (SE2), Italy South, Greece and 5 more. That fits solar output falling away while evening demand is still high, the effect the load shapes pages call the duck curve; in windy zones the peak can fall at any hour.

A few weeks are not the whole year. In the 12 months to October 2026 the median zone's lowest month had wind and solar at 14% of demand and its highest month at 40%. 16 of 32 zones with a complete calendar year had a higher share in the 13 October to 12 November 2026 window than in that year as a whole. On the median zone, wind and solar covered at least half of demand on 2% of days.

• Residual load in an hour is demand minus wind minus solar. Demand is ENTSO-E actual total load; wind and solar are actual generation by type. Small negative wind or solar readings (stations drawing power overnight) are counted as zero.
• An hour is used only when demand, wind and solar are all present, so every figure for a zone is over the same hours. A zone needs at least 336 used hours and at least 90% of its hours with demand. Hours are the zone's local clock hours, so a clock change moves the pattern with it; the repeated hour on a 25 hour day is averaged.
• Residual load is a gap, not a fuel: the plants and imports that fill it are not identified here. Embedded rooftop solar that the operator does not report is missing from both generation and, partly, from load, so residual load can be overstated where that is large.
• Zones that are part of a country (Italy, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have several) are separate market areas, so a zone's wind and solar can exceed its own demand while the country as a whole does not.
• Left out: Albania (publishes no wind series that is reported); Belgium (fewer than 336 hours, or under 90% of its demand hours, have wind, solar and demand all reported); Denmark East (DK2) (fewer than 336 hours, or under 90% of its demand hours, have wind, solar and demand all reported); Denmark West (DK1) (fewer than 336 hours, or under 90% of its demand hours, have wind, solar and demand all reported); France (fewer than 336 hours, or under 90% of its demand hours, have wind, solar and demand all reported); Georgia (publishes no solar series that is reported); Ireland and Northern Ireland (SEM) (publishes no hourly demand); Kosovo (publishes neither a wind nor a solar series that is reported); Montenegro (publishes no solar series that is reported); Norway Central (NO3) (publishes no solar series that is reported); Norway North (NO4) (publishes no solar series that is reported); Norway South-West (NO2) (publishes no solar series that is reported); Norway West (NO5) (publishes neither a wind nor a solar series that is reported); Serbia (publishes no solar series that is reported). A zone that publishes only one of the two is not ranked, because leaving the other out would understate its coverage.
• The window is 13 October to 12 November 2026, a stretch of weeks in one part of the year. Wind and solar output change with the season, so the ranking and the peak hours would differ in another month. The seasonal tables use daily totals for the last 12 months to show how far.
• Figures are as published by ENTSO-E, whose members can revise them. Only derived statistics are shown; raw hourly series are not offered for download. See methodology for time zones and units.