Nordic power price hits record amid Europe-wide surge (updated)

NVE

20/12/2021 12:41

(Recasts with Nordic record, adds auction for Tuesday)
    By Nora Buli
    OSLO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The reference power price for the
Nordic region hit an all-time high on Monday, with prices in
southern Norway setting records for a second consecutive day,
driven by colder weather and even more elevated prices in
continental Europe and Britain.
    The Nordic system price  FXSYSAL=NPX  climbed to a new high
of 309.78 euros per megawatt hours, data from power exchange
Nord Pool showed.
    Prices for the bidding zones surrounding Norway's capital
Oslo  FXNO1EURAL=NPX  and the southern coastal hub Kristiansand
 FXNO2EURAL=NPX  settled at 387.45 euros ($436.77) per megawatt
hour (MWh) for Tuesday, up 81.95 euros from Monday's record.
    Prices for the region around Bergen on Norway's west coast
 FXNO5EURAL=NPX  rose to a new high of 387.21 euros/MWh.
    On an hourly basis, prices soared as high as 600.16 euros
per MWh for the sixty minutes from 1600 GMT for all three of the
southern Norwegian price areas.
    The Nordic power market is divided into 12 price zones, with
prices in northern Norway much lower - delivering at an average
62.58 euros/MWh, due to more abundant wind and hydropower output
and limits to grid capacity to move electricity southward.
    Hydropower is the dominant source for electricity
production, but a dry year has depleted reservoir levels, which
were last 62.2% full, compared with a median 20-year level of
75.8% for the time of year, data from energy regulator NVE
showed.
    Southern Norway is also the landing point for several subsea
power cables connecting Norway with continental Europe and
Britain, where prices are higher still due to high gas prices,
nuclear outages in France and low wind power generation.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2T12F0
    Tuesday's power prices exceeded 400 euros/MWh in most of
Europe.
    Norwegian consumers are already feeling the impact of rising
power prices this year, with most household contracts mirroring
daily wholesale price levels. Heating in the Nordic country is
largely electric. 
    Last week, the Norwegian government proposed a short-term
subsidy for power bills to help cushion the blow.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2T21GR
    ($1 = 0.8871 euros)

 (Reporting by Nora Buli
Editing by Terje Solsvik and Mark Potter)
 ((Nora.Buli@thomsonreuters.com; (+47) 21 04 05 56; Reuters
Messaging: nora.buli.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))