The Nordics already split the price zone Germany decided to keep whole

Within one country, the far-north and far-south zones are a single market with two prices. They converge when the whole system is tight, as when a deep-winter cold snap lifts every zone together, and pull apart when the north has plenty of cheap hydro. The gap is widest in spring snowmelt and the shoulder seasons, while the south stays coupled to the pricier continent. One national price would hide that seasonal gap.

Monthly mean day-ahead price (ENTSO-E); the shaded band is the gap between the two zones. Nordic divergence follows the reservoirs as well as the grid: wet springs widen it, tight winters compress it. Denmark's two zones (west/east) barely diverge by comparison.

Germany has the same physical split, a windy north and a demand-heavy south. It clears at one national price and manages the gap with curtailment and redispatch; the Nordics put a price on the split.

The Nordics are split into many price zones, so a windy, hydro-rich north can clear at a different (often lower) price than a demand-heavy south; the prices reflect where the grid is constrained. It is the live version of the split Germany decided against for its single zone with Luxembourg (DE-LU). Supporters say zonal prices steer investment to where it's needed; critics say they push structurally higher prices onto some regions and add complexity. Wattlas takes no side: it shows what splitting looks like in a system that already did it.

A bidding zone is the area inside which electricity clears at one wholesale price. Nordic zones group regions by where the transmission grid constrains flows.