​A two-hour battery in Germany could have earned €240k/MW/yr in June 2026. That is up 8% from €223k/MW/yr in May. Higher aFRR capacity prices drove the increase. But revenues still sit 16% below June 2025, when aFRR capacity paid far more.

A late-June heatwave and collapsing wind output reshaped the month. Air-conditioning demand kept midday prices off their floor, but when wind generation fell to almost zero in the second half of the month, plants had to start at short notice into the evening peak. That evening scarcity lifted both day-ahead spreads and aFRR capacity prices at the same time. Compared to May, midday prices didn’t go nearly as negative, but evening prices spiked higher, keeping spreads high.

Key takeaways

• An unconstrained two-hour battery could have earned €240k/MW/yr in June, up 8% on May but 16% below June 2025's €286k/MW/yr.
• aFRR capacity added €29k/MW/yr month-on-month, as aFRR-up prices rose 58% to €15.7/MW/h. It was the month's largest driver.
• FCR revenue fell €15k/MW/yr even as FCR prices hit a long-term high of €24.2/MW/h. The benchmark reflects the even higher opportunity in aFRR capacity, especially in the evening peak.
• Low evening wind drove scarcity into both markets. Evening day-ahead prices doubled in the second half, and aFRR-up cleared €48/MW/h in the 20:00 block.
• Day-ahead and intraday spreads reached 13-month highs of €210/MWh and €220/MWh.

Revenues rose to €240k/MW/yr, but stayed below a year ago

aFRR capacity remained the largest revenue stream in June. It paid €159k/MW/yr, split €91k down and €68k up. Day-ahead arbitrage contributed €58k/MW/yr, the highest day-ahead revenues for the cross-optimised battery in almost 2 years. FCR added €18k/MW/yr, with intraday and aFRR energy making up the rest.

A year earlier, the mix looked very different. In June 2025, aFRR capacity alone paid €256k/MW/yr, and FCR was a smaller part of the stack. Ancillary saturation has since begun to compress those prices, as more batteries prequalify for the service.

Energy trading, day-ahead plus intraday, made up 25% of the June stack, worth €59k/MW/yr. A year ago it was just 6%. As aFRR capacity prices have compressed, energy has grown from a sliver of the stack to a quarter of it.

Intraday stays small in absolute net terms, at €0.9k/MW/yr. But since large parts of the capacity are reserved for aFRR, intraday is often used for charging/SOC-management after aFRRE positive activations, meaning that total revenue from the singular market is low in comparison.

aFRR capacity drove the month-on-month rise

The €17k/MW/yr increase came almost entirely from aFRR capacity, up €29k/MW/yr. aFRR energy added €4k/MW/yr, and day-ahead €1k/MW/yr.

FCR pulled the other way, down €15k. This doesn’t represent lower capacity prices - the battery simply moved capacity out of FCR and into aFRR, where June's scarcity paid more.

FCR prices have resurfaced since the winter trough

cleared at an average €24.2/MW/h in June, its highest since June 2025. Prices bottomed at €6.8/MW/h in December, then climbed through spring. The recovery shows up in both prices and revenue. This increase came partly in reaction to higher gas prices since March, partly in reaction to better opportunity costs in other markets as wholesale spreads widen in spring. Both strong solar generation and steep ramps around the solar peaks can influence this opportunity cost for all generators, driving up the value of flexibility-based ancillary services.