Baltic, Energy, Energy Market, EU – Baltic States, Markets and Companies

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 10:49

Electricity price grows in April due to maintenance at Olkiluoto power plant

BC, Tallinn, 12.05.2017.Print version
An increase in the price of electricity on the Nordic electricity exchange Nord Pool (NP) in April was mostly related to the annual maintenance work carried out at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant in Finland, and at the same time the price was under pressure by a relatively good level of Nordic and Baltic hydro reservoirs, informed LETA/BNS.

In April the price of electricity in all bidding areas increased by a few percent. The average electricity price in bidding area Estonia was 31.18 euros per megawatt-hour in April, 1.7% higher than in March. In Finland, Latvia and Lithuania the price of electricity was about the same as in Estonia -- respectively 31.4 euros in Finland and 31.42 euros in Latvia and Lithuania, the transmission system operator Elering said.


As the average price of electricity in Lithuania in March was slightly higher, the increase in price there was the smallest in April -- only 0.48 percent, closing at 31.42 euros per megawatt-hour.


One of the important reasons for the increase in electricity prices was the annual maintenance work carried out at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant from Apr. 23 to May 3, which leaves 880 megawatts of production capacity off the market. The shortage in Finland was highlighted by the relatively one-way traffic of Estlink from Estonia to Finland during that period.


The prices are also kept low by the relatively strong flow on the Daugava river in Latvia. In April, the flow was somewhat weaker than in March, but the production of the Latvian hydroelectric plant remains at a high level.


The Nordic hydro reservoirs reached a level which exceeded the normal by 3 terawatt-hours by the middle of April. At the same time, the warmer weather during the last few days of April and a forecast of warm weather for the next week lowered the prognosis of hydraulic reserves to 1 terawatt-hour below the normal.


The average price of electricity in Estonia in 2017 is 32.50 euros per megawatt-hour, which is 1.18 euros higher than the average price recorded at the end of April 2016. In Finland, the difference in electricity prices had risen to 2.92 euros by the end of April compared to last year.






Search site