In November 2023 electricity prices in all three Baltic States went up by 20% or 105.20 EUR/MWh when compared to October, as BNN was told by representatives of Augstsprieguma tīkls JSC.
When compared to November 2022 the average electricity price in Latvia is 115% lower, according to the Latvian electricity market survey.
“The overall price increase is related to increased consumption due to lower than usual air temperature. As a result of this, the price of electricity on the exchange was dictated by more expensive production sources. The increase of the average price was observed in all Baltic interconnections in November: 85% or 69.68 EUR/MWh in Finland, 139% or 73.55 EUR/MWh in Sweden’s 4th zone, and 3% or 98.38 EUR/MWh in Poland,” representatives of Augstsprieguma tīkls comment.
A comparison of imported electricity volume across Baltic States shows it has gone up 2.2% since October.
The volume of imported electricity from Finland is down by 10.4%. Imports from Sweden and Poland, on the other hand, are up by 19.4% and 19.1% respectively.
Experts explain that the changes with electricity prices were influenced by the developments in Finland’s trade region. The price growth in Baltic States was caused by the unplanned disconnection of Finland’s biggest nuclear power plant Olkiluoto’s 3rd reactor between the 18th and 22nd of November and the last two days of the month, which reduced the proportion of nuclear power plant capacity available to the Nordic countries, which in turn reduced the total flow of electricity to the Baltic States, resulting in an increase in the price of electricity there during this period.
The Winter Outlook 2023-2024 from ENTSO-E shows that electricity volumes in Europe this winter season will be sufficient to cover consumption. Many of the risks that were present in the Baltic Region the previous winter are no longer a problem now.
In the 2022 historically the highest energy prices caused a new impulse for European countries to reduce their dependence on imports of energy, developing generation of renewable energy instead.
Since the 2022/2023 winter period, consumption of natural gas in the EU has gone down by 16%. The Top 3 most rapid gas consumption drops are observed in Lithuania, Estonia (consumption drop exceeds 30%) and Finland (consumption drop exceeds 40%). At the same time, the power output of wind and solar energy power plants continued rapidly developing. Since the 2022/2023 winter Baltic States have all installed around 900 MW-capable solar power plants and around 900 MW-capable wind power plants.
Also read: LSA: Ministry of Finance has decided to inflate port costs instead of providing support
Follow us on Facebook and X!