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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 10:59

Wind energy lowering electricity price to near-zero in Estonia

BC, Tallinn, 21.09.2018.Print version
The electricity price in price area Estonia of the Nordic electricity exchange Nord Pool Spot will in great probability drop to 2.4 euros per megawatt-hour on the night between Friday and Saturday as a result of high output of wind energy, informs LETA/BNS.

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.

 






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