The price of electricity traded on the day-ahead market (DAM) in Romania on Monday, with delivery on Tuesday, was 237 euros per MWh, according to OPCOM operators.
It is the highest price in the whole of Europe, identical to the price in Bulgaria, with which the Romanian market has fluctuated, as well as in Greece.
In that way, the situation from the previous day was copied – on Monday, the highest price on the continent was also achieved on the Romanian and Bulgarian markets – 240 euros per MWh. Prices were also high in other European markets, hovering around 220-230 euros per MWh in Western Europe.
Specific for the region, the planned shutdowns of the two largest production groups in the Balkans – the Kozloduy nuclear power plant unit in Bulgaria, with a capacity of 1,000 MW, and unit 1 of the Romanian nuclear power plant Cernavoda, with a capacity of 700 MW.
Bulgaria’s nuclear unit should be reconnected by the end of this month, and Unit 1 of Cernavoda by the end of June.
In Romania, shutdowns of some hydropower plants are also planned for Tuesday, and the wind forecast indicates another bad day for this source.
Romania imports electricity from both Bulgaria and Hungary on Tuesday. During most of the day, more precisely during 23 hours, Romania imports electricity from Hungary, while during 20 intervals it imports from the Bulgarian network.
The spot price is becoming more and more relevant because DAM trades with 48-50% of the total electricity consumption. In this market, suppliers also buy part of the energy for the needs of their customers, which they did not contract on the futures markets.
The spot electricity market in Bucharest is in line with the Hungarian, Czech and Slovak ones, and recently with the markets in Austria, Poland and Germany. In October 2022, the spot market in Bucharest was connected, through the same mechanism, with the market in Bulgaria.
Source: e-nergia.ro