Spain's negative-price bids jumped from 9 TWh in 2022 to 130 TWh in 2025. That's a 14x surge in three years.

This isn't chaos. It's rational economics. When shutdown costs exceed losses from paying to produce, generators bid below zero. Nuclear can't ramp. Wind farms lose subsidies if they disconnect. Solar PV protects long-term PPAs.

The merit order didn't break. It adapted.