In April, Latvia produced 13% more electricity than consumed

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Thanks to the significant increase, for the first time since April last year, Latvia has managed to produce 13% more electricity than the country’s consumption, thus in April Latvia has become an electricity exporting country.

The survey shows that the increase in production in Latvia is due to spring floods: due to the large inflow of water, the generation at the Daugava HPP was 58% higher than in the hair, while compared to April last year, it increased by 10.4%. The inflow of water into the Daugava was also stimulated by the fact that in April, according to the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Center, precipitation was 9% higher than the norm for long-term observations.

Also, the volume of wind power plant development increased significantly in April – by 72.6% compared to March, but decreased by 15.8% compared to April 2021, while due to the high costs of large cogeneration plants it practically did not operate in April – they produced 9% less than in March and 58% less than a year ago.

In April 2022, the average electricity price in the Latvian trade area decreased to 109.40 EUR per megawatt hour (MWh), which is 33.4% less than in March, but compared to April 2021, the price is 251% higher. In April, both in the Baltics and in the interconnected trading areas, as well as in Europe, electricity prices fell, reaching an average of November 2021.

Last month, for the second time since the opening of the electricity market, the price of electricity in Latvia was significantly lower than in the Nordic countries – the average price of the NordPool exchange system, consisting of Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark, was 133.80 EUR / MWh or 24.40 EUR / MWh higher. than in Latvia. Previously, the lowest electricity price in Latvia compared to the Nordic countries was fixed only once – in March 2019, when the difference was insignificant – 0.79 EUR / MWh. In Latvia, the lower price was formed due to the high development of renewable energy resources – hydroelectric power plants and wind power plants.

In April, electricity imports to the Baltics decreased: imports from Europe decreased by 15% or a total of 938,152 MWh, from Russia – by 5% less or a total of 209,113 MWh, while compared to April 2021, imports from Europe increased by 24%. and a 37% drop in imports from Russia.

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