Latvian electricity market overview

In August 2022, the average electricity price in the Latvian trading area increased to EUR 476,75 per megawatt hour (MWh), which is 53,4% ​​more than in July, but compared to August 2021, the price is 435% higher.

Highlights in August:

• In August, the total amount of electricity produced in Latvia was 259,058 MWh, which is 25% more than in July and 59% more than a year ago, while Latvia's electricity consumption was 569,938 MWh, which is 4,7% more than in July and 2 % less than a year ago in August;
• In August, production in large thermal power plants resumed - they produced 119,022 MWh of electricity, which is 26,3 times more than in July and 5,7 times more than a year ago. A low production volume at TEC was observed since March, but it decreased significantly in June and July;
• Thus, the total electricity consumption of Latvia was covered by local generation in the amount of 45,45%, while the missing amount - 310,879 MWh of electricity was imported from neighboring countries;
• In August, for the third month in a row, Latvia reached the historically highest monthly average electricity prices since the opening of the electricity market - 467,75 EUR/MWh, the average monthly prices in the other Baltic countries also reached historically high levels - in Lithuania 480,39 EUR/MWh, in Estonia - 361, 35 EUR/MWh;
• In August, the historically highest hourly price was also recorded in all three Baltic countries - on August 17, in the period from 18.00 to 19.00, the price of electricity reached the maximum hourly price mark set by the NordPool exchange - 4000 EUR/MWh;
• The sharp increase in prices is related to the limited supply of electricity in the Baltic market - it is limited both by the low flow of water at the Daugava HPP, high gas prices for the production of electricity in cogeneration stations, and also the decision to stop the import of electricity from Russia due to the sanctions imposed on it;
• The limited amount of production contributed to the increase in imports to the Baltics from the European Union - a total of 1,177,924 MWh of electricity was imported into the Baltics, which is 3% more than in July;
• Although the historically highest price was also reached in Estonia, the increase there was not so great and it is related to the limited opportunities to transfer electricity to Latvia due to capacity limitations of the interconnections of the two countries, which were caused by both the planned repairs and the high air temperature.

ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN LATVIA AUGUST 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

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).

[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.