News & events

2015-05-18

Average electricity market price in April 19% lower than a year ago

In April the average electricity price in the Nord Pool Spot Lithuanian bidding area was 35.61 EUR/MWh, and this is almost 20% lower than in April last year. Compared to March, the electricity price went up by 11% in the Lithuanian and Latvian bidding areas. As it is common in spring, due to the longer daylight hours, the demand of electricity was 5% lower in April than March.
 
71% of the electricity required for consumption was imported. The electricity import from Latvia, Estonia and Scandinavia increased by 9%, while the import from Russia decreased by 25%.
 
The total amount of electricity generated in April decreased by 3% and amounted to 236 GWh. Almost 23% of the electricity was generated from wind power plants, with 33% from hydro power plants. The companies producing electricity in-house generated less than 2% of the total electricity in Lithuania. The combined circle unit (No. 9) of the Lithuanian Power Plant, operating from April 15 in order to ensure the reliable operation of the system, generated 37% of the total electricity produced in Lithuania.
 
In the Nord Pool Spot Scandinavian bidding area, the average electricity price in April remained almost unchanged compared to March, at 25 EUR/MWh.
 
“There was an obvious difference in price between Denmark-Norway–Sweden and Finland-Estonia: the prices slightly decreased in the western coast of the Baltic Sea, while in Finland and Estonia, they remained a few percent higher than in March. That was the result of  a 33% lower import from Russia to Finland and short-term repairs of the Sweden-Finland power links,” commented Robertas Staniulis, Litgrid’s Head of the Market Development Division.
 
The average monthly price in the Swedish SE4 bidding area was 26 EUR/MWh and in the Finnish bidding area, 30 EUR/MWh in April. The electricity price in the Estonian bidding area in April remained 30.5 EUR/MWh, the same as in March.
 
“Due to reduced hydro power generation in Latvia, Latvia was supplied with electricity from Estonia. The average price in the Estonian bidding area was 0.4 EUR/MWh higher than in Finland because the capacities of both Estlink power links were not enough,” said R. Staniulis.
 
The average electricity price for Poland in April was 36 EUR/MWh, 7% higher than in March. For Germany, it was lower than in March by 5%, 30 EUR/MWh. Here, a 1.9 TWh reduction in wind power was replaced by 1.6 TWh of increased production from solar power plants. On April 12 in Germany, the wind power output amounted to 12 GW, while solar plants produced 20 GW, thus forming a negative day price of -0.8 EUR/MWh in the exchange, and the price dropped to its lowest level at 2 p.m., to 79.9 EUR/MWh.