News & events

2014-06-10

Local Power Production Slowed Down the Rise of Market Prices

From 2nd to 8th of June the average price of electricity in the Nord Pool Spot exchange‘s Lithuanian trading area was 23 ct per kilowatt hour. Due to planned repair works on power plants and a low supply of electricity in the Scandinavian countries, the prices of electricity remained relatively high in Finland and Estonia‘s trading areas, while the supply of electricity produced by local power plants in Lithuania and Latvia did not reduce the market prices.
 
Same as every summer, with rising temperature, the Estonia-Latvia electricity interconnection’s transmission capacity is reduced due to technical issues. This adds additional limitations on the import of electricity from Scandinavia through Estonia.
 
The repair works, currently being carried out on one of the units in Kaliningrad’s thermal power plant, reduce the opportunities of electricity import from this area. During peak hours Kaliningrad experiences power deficits. 
 
Import opportunities from mainland Russia are also being reduced due to repair works on both Belarus and Russia‘s electricity systems. The transit of electricity flow is further burdened by the doubled deficit in the Belarussian power system. 
 
In order to ensure reliable supply of electricity in Lithuania, the Elektrėnai Power Plant was started on 2 June, this increased the electricity supply by about 260 MW. Once the repair works on the gas pipeline in Latvia were finished, the Riga thermal power station began operating on 6 June, increasing the electricity supply in the region by further 180 MW. This reduced the electricity market price by about 25 per cent compared to 3-5 June.
 
On 2 – 8 June the Latvia–Estonia electricity interconnection was on average being utilised at 93 per cent of its transmission capacity, Lithuania–Latvia - at 41 per cent, Lithuania–Kaliningrad reached 86 per cent of its transmission capacity and Lithuania–Belarus operated at 67 per cent.
 
Important information concerning significant current and future plans to disconnect electricity transmission lines and power plants will be announced on http://www.nordpoolspot.com/ in the Urgent Market Messages section.