High electricity prices developed at Lithuania‘s price area of the Nord Pool Spot exchange market over the last few days which made it economically efficient to produce electricity using gas at the Elektrėnai plant.
Electricity shortages and price hikes in the Baltic region appeared down to the fact that on January 8 the second Riga combined heat and power plant stopped operating.
On Monday, the average price of electricity exchange hit €87.43/MWh and the maximum price of electricity for some hours on the afternoon of January 11 jumped up to €200/MWh.
The price of electricity remains high due to the decrease in the volume of water available in Latvia to supply hydro-electric power plants. Nemunas in Lithuania has been hit by the same problem leaving Algirdas Brazauskas hydroelectric power plant in Kaunas operating at minimum capacity and the Kruonis hydro-accumulative power plant unable to maximize its potential.
Electricity imports from Belarus and Poland also fell sharply in the last few days, driving up prices.
Last week Lithuania imported 81% of its electricity needs, Latvia imported 16% and Estonia produced an 18% surplus of electricity nationally.
Lrytas.lt
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