BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 25
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Larger members of the European Union (EU) have reduced power consumption in the third quarter of 2019, Trend reports citing the European Commission’s electricity market report.
According to the approximated data of member states’ statistical services, regulatory authorities and TSOs, EU-wide consumption of electricity fell by approximately 1 percent year-on-year in Q3 2019, driven by decreases in larger member states, reads the report.
Of the major economies, power consumption increased in Spain (+3.2 percent) and Italy (0.6 percent), while falls were registered in Germany (-3.1 percent), Poland (-2.1 percent), France (-1.7 percent), the UK (-1.1 percent) and the Netherlands (- 0.5 percent). The measurable fall in Polish consumption is noteworthy as it took place against the backdrop of 3.9% annual GDP growth, one of the highest among the member states. General stagnation of industrial activity was dragging down the consumption levels in the EU in Q3 2019.
As for prices, apart from Malta (66.3 €/MWh) and Greece (62.4 €/MWh), the highest average wholesale electricity prices in Q3 2019 were reported from Romania (58.7 €/MWh), Poland (57.9 €/MWh) and Hungary (56.4 €/MWh).
Some of these countries traditionally rely on imports of electricity (Greece, Hungary), some have limited cross-border transmission capacities (Malta, Greece), and some faced increased production costs in the reference quarter due to high CO2 prices penalizing their carbon-intensive generation mix (Poland, Greece). Romania suffered from low hydro output and had to resort to increasing imports.
The lowest quarterly wholesale prices were recorded in Norway (33.6 €/MWh), which benefited from ample hydro reservoir levels and rising wind generation, and Belgium (35.2 €/MWh), where exceptionally high nuclear output and rising renewable penetration compressed baseload contracts
The pan-EU average of wholesale baseload prices reached 47.0 €/MWh in the reference quarter, down 21% in a year-on-year comparison. Compared to Q2 2019, the wholesale benchmark rose by 8.6% on the back of low hydro generation in the Balkans and higher carbon prices, which were only partly compensated by the expansion of renewables and feeble demand.
In terms of price developments in individual markets, the biggest (and only) year-on-year price swings in the upward direction took place in Bulgaria (+53 percent) and Romania (+6 percent), whereas the largest falls could be observed in Belgium (-42 percent), the UK (-39 percent) and France (-38 percent).
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