Latvian electricity market overview

In March 2022, the average price of electricity in the Latvian trading area increased to EUR 167,22 per megawatt hour (EUR/MWh), which is 59,7% more than in February, but compared to March 2021, the price is 284% higher.

Highlights in March:

• In March, after a moderate decline in the first two months of the year, electricity prices in Europe rose again, mostly exceeding the historically high level observed in December 2021, while in the Baltic countries, as well as in their interconnected trading areas - Poland, Sweden's 4th trading area, as also in Finland, prices rose more moderately, not exceeding the anti-record of December last year;
• The rise in prices in Europe in March 2022 was caused by a combination of factors - lower wind generation compared to record high levels in January and February, the increase in gas prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as the prices of CO2 emission allowances, which, although they fell by 18% in March, are still holding high;
• In March, compared to February, by 38% and by 62% compared to March 2021, the import of electricity to the Baltics from Russia will decrease, as from March 3, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia's ability to export electricity to the Baltics is significantly limited, in order to reduce the possible negative impact risk to operational safety and stability of the Baltic electricity transmission systems;
• Imports from Finland to the Baltics have increased by 23% in March, while those from Sweden and Poland have decreased by 7% and 13% respectively, however, the total exports of European countries to the Baltics have increased by 10% compared to February and by 42% compared to 2021 March. The increase in imports from Finland was facilitated by the significantly lower price of electricity, as well as the available interconnections - they were loaded by 95% on a monthly basis;
• In Finland, the average electricity price was 86,48 EUR/MWh, and only 34% of the hours it was equal to the electricity price in Estonia. The big price difference between the Baltics and Finland indicates that, although the entire installed capacity of the Finnish-Estonian interconnection was available to the market, local generation in the Baltics is not in sufficient volume with such a low price offer;
• In Finland, the low price of electricity can be explained by the amount of cheaper electricity available in neighboring areas (Sweden's 1st trading area), technical limitations to export to other Swedish trading areas, as well as sufficient local generation that is ready to work at such a price. It should be noted that on March 14, the new unit 3 of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant was connected to the grid, which gave an additional average of 400 MW of constant power to the grid. Also, imports from Russia to Finland (unlike the Baltics) have not decreased, but have even increased over the last year, and so far there are no reductions in trading capacity, both for the part of bilateral trade and for the part that is traded through the NordPool exchange.
• In March, 459,867 MWh of electricity was produced in Latvia, which is half a percent more than in February and 34,7% less than a year ago, while electricity consumption in Latvia was 652,759 MWh, which is 7% more than in February and half a percent more than a year ago;
• 70,4% of national consumption was provided by local generation, but the missing amount - 192,892 MWh - was imported from neighboring countries;
• In March, the rains continued and the amount of electricity produced by the Daugava HPP increased by 14% compared to February, even despite the fact that in March, according to the data of the Latvian Center for Environment, Geology and Meteorology, the amount of precipitation was seven times less than the norm and March was the second driest month since the observations in 1924. Compared to March 2021, the volume produced by the Daugava HPP has decreased by 9,5%;
  Due to high costs, the large cogeneration plants practically did not work in March - they produced 60% less than in February and 89% less than a year ago;
• The amount of development of wind power plants has also decreased significantly - compared to February, it decreased by 61%, and compared to March 2021 - by 52%.

ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN LATVIA MARCH 2022

* Rīgas TEC-1, Rīgas TEC-2, AS "Rīgas Siltums", SIA "Juglas Jauda", SIA "Fortum"

INTERCONNECTION LOAD AND ELECTRICITY PRICES

COMPARISON OF PRICES BETWEEN NEIGHMOURING PRICES AREAS

CONGESTION OF THE BALTIC INTERCONNECTIONS

IMPORT OF ELECTRICITY TO THE BALTIC STATES

Balancing market in the Baltics

BALANCING ENERGY PRICES IN THE BALTICS

HIGHEST AND LOWEST BID PRICES

TOTAL ACTIVATED ENERGY BY COUNTRY, MWh

AVERAGE STANDARD BID AMOUNT IN HOUR, MW

Abbreviations and designations used:

LV - Latvia trade area, LT - Lithuania trade area, EE - Estonia trade area, PL - Poland trade area, FI - Finland trade area, SE4 - Sweden's fourth trade area, AT - Austrian trade area, BE - Belgium trade area, DE-LU - German- Luxembourg trade area, FR - France trade area, NL - the Netherlands trade area, DK1 and DK2 - Danish 1. and 2. trade area, LBI - Lithuania-Belarus Import trade area, LRI - Latvia-Russia import trade area.

Load = monthly total commercial flow in kWh / monthly total net transfer capacity in kWh ("Net Transfer Capacity" NTC).

Commercial electricity imports to the Baltic States from third countries (Russia) take place on the Latvian-Russian border (LRI-LV) and the Lithuanian-Kaliningrad border (LT-LKAL), according to NordPool data.

Nord Pool is a Nordic electricity exchange where, based on market principles, the electricity price of the Latvian trading area is determined.

[1] Here and in the following review, electricity imports are not commercial transactions, but electricity that physically entered the network from other countries.

[2] Here and in the following review, electricity exports are not commercial transactions, but electricity physically transferred from the grid to other countries.

[3] According to the (ENTSO-E) definition, which does not include electrical self consumption.