In July Record amounts of Electricity Were Sold in the Estonian Price Area

Trading activity in the Estonian price area of the Nord Pool Spot (NPS) power exchange remained high in July as a consequence of major shortages of electricity in Latvia and Lithuania and high prices on the Lithuanian power exchange. By the end of the month a record of 539 GWh of electricity had been bought from the NPS Estonia price area.

Latvian market participants accounted for more than half, buying 56% followed by the 41% bought by Estonian market participants and 4% bought by Lithuanians. The amounts bought from the NPS Estonia price area by Estonian market participants continue to increase, supplying the largest share of domestic consumption this year.

The amounts sold on the exchange fell by 12% to 487 GWh, as prices in the Estonian price area were lower than those in the Lithuanian Baltpool power exchange and those of electricity imported under favourable conditions from the Nordic countries. Estonian market participants sold 97% of the total.

The fall in electricity consumption brought the average price in the Estonian price area in July down by 4.5 euros to 42.95 EUR/MWh. Strong demand from Estonia’s southern neighbours meant this remained a little higher than the price of 42.2 EUR/MWh in the NPS Finland price area. The higher prices in the Estonian price area than in the Finland price area also meant that the amount of electricity imported from Finland through the EstLink cable increased ten-fold to 92.8 GWh, while exports to Latvia also increased. The average price in Baltpool was 44.97 EUR/MWh.

In July the electricity price in the Nordic countries was particularly affected by much higher water levels in the reservoirs for hydropower plants than in the previous year, by excess generation and by lower levels of consumption in the warm weather. CO2 emissions prices also continued to fall in July, and in consequence the average system price in the Nord Pool Spot power exchange fell by 10 euros in July to 38.78 EUR/MWh.

A complete summary is available here (only in Estonian).