In August the Electricity Sales on the Power Exchange Were 13% Higher

In August the main factors affecting trading in the Estonian price area of the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool Spot (NPS) were the increased demand from Finland and the continuing major shortages of electricity in Latvia and Lithuania. At the same time, cheaper hydro-power production from Norway and Sweden had no significant impact on the price in our price area in August. The amounts of electricity sold in the Estonian price area increased by 13% from the previous month to 548 GWh.

The price in the NPS Estonia price area in August remained at the level of May and June at an average of 47.6 EUR/MWh. The open market price in Estonia was affected by the major electricity shortages in Latvia and Lithuania and by increased demand from Finland. Limits on the transmission capacity between Sweden and Finland meant that the flow of cheap hydro-electricity from Sweden and Norway to Finland was restricted and the price in Finland was higher than that in its Nordic neighbours. Additional electricity was exported to Finland from Estonia, and in August the average price in the Finland price area was 48.98 EUR/MWh.

Taavi Veskimägi, CEO of Elering, says it is important to consider neighbouring countries when looking at generating capacity in Estonia. As shown in the summer 2011 analysis of the association of European TSOs, Finland and Latvia are short of electricity in summer and this has a clear impact on our price area. “The electricity systems are so integrated now that they have a major impact on each other. The shortage in Finland limited the impact of cheap hydro-electricity on our large consumers in August, but in September the price in the Estonian price area has dropped as low as 35 EUR/MWh at times. From the beginning of 2014, when EstLink 2 is in operation, we will finally have a unified Nordic-Baltic electricity market and Estonian consumers will have access to electricity generated in the Nordic countries in almost every hour,” he explained.

In August, 13% more electricity was sold in the NPS Estonia price area than in the previous month, a total of 548 GWh. The rise in the amounts sold was caused by high demand from the countries to the south and increased demand from market participants in Finland, as prices were high in Finland and on the Lithuanian power exchange Baltpool. The majority of the electricity sold, 94% of the total volume, was sold by Estonian market participants. August also saw slight growth of 22 GWh in the amount of electricity sold by Lithuanian market participants.

In August, 502 GWh of electricity were bought from the NPS Estonia price area, down from 538.6 GWh in July, with Estonian market participants buying 43%, Latvians 55% and Lithuanians 2%. The amount bought by Estonian market participants was enough to cover 40.6% of Estonian domestic consumption. Maintenance work on the EstLink 1 cable restricted transmission capacity for three days at the end of the month and limited the volumes traded.

Reservoirs for hydropower plants in the Nordic countries remained well-filled and, as in July, their levels were higher than in previous years. This meant that the system price remained low at 40 EUR/MWh in August.

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