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Thursday, 28.03.2024, 10:59
Wind energy lowering electricity price to near-zero in Estonia
Where the
average price of electricity has been in the region of 50 euros per
megawatt-hour in recent months, the price has dropped close to zero for
individual hours. The lowest price in price area Estonia thus far this year is
1.59 euros per megawatt-hour. Usually the extreme lows are a result of big
output of wind energy, a subsidized product with very low production costs.
"The
only thing we found that this low price is in correlation with is high output
of wind energy," a representative for Nord
Pool told. The representative said that while the low price is very
remarkable and the supervisor is keeping an eye on it, it cannot be described
as an anomaly.
According
to the wind energy forecast issued for Friday, 5,464 megawatt-hours of wind
energy will be generated in Sweden and 4,214 megawatt-hours in Denmark
during the last hour of Friday.
Simultaneously
the consumption of electric energy in the Nordic countries will decrease
significantly on the night between Friday and Saturday.
Where
between 11 p.m. and midnight on Friday consumers in the Nordic countries would
like to buy 30,200 megawatt-hours of electricity at three euros per
megawatt-hour, one hour later aggregate demand at the same price is lower at
28,600 megawatt-hours.
Since the
price for Saturday will be established in auctions taking place on Friday
afternoon, it is not yet clear whether the extremely low price will be valid
for just one hour or more.
The price
of electricity on Nord pool can also
drop below zero. The lowest price thus far this year was registered in price
area Denmark between 2 and 3 a.m. on Jan. 28, when the price fell to -15 euros.
In
addition, the price of electricity on the free market is influenced
significantly by the level of Nordic
hydro stocks. The size of these stocks has increased significantly compared
with the levels registered during the dry spring and summer months. The lowest
level of stocks this year was registered in mid-April, when the reservoirs of
Norway, Sweden and Finland had 27 terawatt-hours' worth of water combined. The
amount registered last week was 81.9 terawatt-hours.