and on the other hand the possible impact it would have on natural gas supplies from the region. The prices of Brent futures, the international benchmark, for deliveries next month are also on an upward trajectory, as they have been moving since yesterday at levels above 89 dollars per barrel, while the counterparts of the American variety, WTI, are rapidly approaching the barrier of 84 dollars per barrel. barrel.
The new condition in the market keeps the sale prices of liquid fuels consistently high in our country, with the average price of unleaded 95 octane at the gas stations of the Athens Prefecture at 1,949 euros per liter and at the pumps of the Prefecture of Thessaloniki, at 1,950 euros per liter.
Increase in wholesale electricity prices
In the domestic electricity market, the Market Clearing Price of the Next Day Market is set at 83 euros/MWh for today, Friday, with a percentage increase of +3% since Thursday’s close. Total demand was 282.84 GWh, while in the fuel shares in the energy mix, natural gas and renewable energy keep pace, with percentages of 39.8% and 39.9% respectively, followed by increased imports with 10.5% and hydroelectric with 4.6%, while lignite was reduced again with its percentage not exceeding 0.1%. Furthermore, exports reached 17,528 MWh and imports reached 14,852 MWh.
Meanwhile, in the week ending April 21, prices in SE European electricity markets rose compared to the immediately preceding seven-day period, with the average increase reaching +39.0%.
The reason lies in the steep rise in the wholesale price of natural gas and CO2 emission rights, as well as in the increase in electricity demand.
In SE Europe, the price of electricity in the region’s day-ahead markets soared, with Romania and Croatia recording the highest percentage increases, up +49.28% and +48.20% respectively, over the week which ended on April 14, to be followed by Hungary which recorded an increase in electricity prices by +45.98%.
Last week weekly average prices exceeded 50 euros/MWh in most European electricity markets, with the exception of those of Portugal, Spain and France. Prices ranged from 21.38 euros/MWh in the French wholesale market to 91.59 euros/MWh in the corresponding Italian one, while in the Iberian Peninsula prices were much lower, i.e. at 4.86 euros/MWh in the Portuguese market and to 6.09 euros/MWh in the equivalent of Spain.
In southern Europe, all countries recorded an increase in electricity prices, although their average level moved below €70/MWh, with the exception of Italy.
In particular, in Greece, wholesale electricity prices were lower, with their weekly average reaching 65.63 euros/MWh. In contrast, the Italian market recorded the highest average price among the region’s markets, at €91.59/MWh, a percentage increase of +18.35% since the week ending 14 April.
Demand surge
During the week of April 15-21, electricity demand in the SE Europe region increased sharply, due to the unstable weather conditions that prevailed and resulted in increased heating needs. The percentage of increase amounted to +12.23%, corresponding to 14,373.05 GW.
We note that demand remained practically unchanged in Greece and Italy, while in Turkey it increased by +34.39%, and in Serbia by +8.70%.
Also, RES production in SE Europe remained at the same levels as the week ended the 14th of the month, registering a marginal increase of +0.7%, to 3,318.82 GWh, thanks to higher wind production. More specifically, wind production in the entire region increased between April 15-21 by +9.1%, to 2,030.81 GWh.
Serbia, Turkey and Greece recorded a decrease in electricity production from wind projects by -49.5%, -14.4% and -10.5% respectively.
Overall, RES production in our country fell during the week ending April 21 by -13.4% and amounted to 533.36 GWh.
Hydroelectric energy production in the SE Europe region also increased by +14.66% during the same period, to 3,960.68 GWh. Turkey and Romania recorded the largest percentage increase in hydropower production by +22.96% and +14.32% respectively, while Croatia and Greece recorded a decrease by -12.57% and -1.58% respectively.
At the same time, thermal energy production in the SE Europe region increased by +32.36% from the week ending on the 14th of the month, thanks to the rise in electricity demand that required the participation of coal and lignite plants. Total generation for the seven-day period April 15-21 reached 4,408.73 GWh, broken down as follows: +32.80% increase in coal-fired generation, which reached 2,315.46 GWh, and +31.87% increase in coal-fired generation natural gas combustion, which amounted to 2,093.26 GWh.
In our country, the production of electricity from lignite reached 1.19 GWh, while the production from natural gas made a jump of +36.48%.
Finally, net electricity imports were -6% lower across the entire SE Europe region in the week of April 15-21 at 841.31 GWh.
More specifically, electricity exports from the region decreased by -21.3%, to 202.65 GWh, while imports decreased by -9.4%, and amounted to 1,043.96 GWh.
Greece and Bulgaria maintained their position as electricity exporters for the second consecutive week, with net exports reaching 63.16 GWh and 132.21 GWh respectively, up +39.39% for Greece, but down -4, 72% for Bulgaria.
