Finnish power price surge brings coal on line

Market: Electricity
21/08/23

The Finnish day-ahead power price for delivery on 21 August reached its highest this year owing to nuclear outages, import capacity curtailments and low wind generation, with coal-fired generation entering the mix for the first time since June.

The Finnish day-ahead spot index for delivery on Monday climbed to €243.73/MWh from €102.25/MWh on 20 August and well above the previous 2023 high of €150.51/MWh on 6 March. Electricity prices in Finland have been climbing over the past few days and had reached previous monthly highs of €118.52/MWh on 18 August before [increasing again on 19 August] to €120.51/MWh.

Hourly day-ahead prices were as high as €549.95/MWh for Monday delivery, while trades on the intra-day market had been done at up to €999/MWh for 08:00-09:00 delivery. Intra-day prices had been above day-ahead prices for the majority of the day, at the time of writing.

Power prices have increased over the past few days as nuclear generation in Finland has fallen to just 2.76GW on 21 August from 4.14GW on 17 August owing to the unplanned outage of the 890MW Olkiluoto 2 reactor on 18 August — which has been extended by seven days to 28 August — and the planned works of the 507MW Loviisa 2 nuclear reactor over 20 August-6 September.

This has coincided with a drop in onshore wind output, which declined to a four-day low of 88MW on 20 August before increasing to 217MW the day after, although sharply down from 1.75GW averaged over 16-17 August. Combined coal and peat-fired output increased to 570MW on 21 August — the highest since 6 April — after steadily rising from just 77MW on 18 August as coal-fired plants began generating for the first time since 21 June. Hydro generation also picked up, increasing to an average of around 2GW over 18-21 August, compared with 1.61GW over 14-17 August (see generation chart).

Net power imports from neighbouring Sweden, on the interconnectors with the SE1 and SE3 zones, over 18-21 August stood at an average of 1GW, with no flows from Finland to Sweden in any hours on 19-21 August. This is up from average net imports of 432MW over 14-17 August, despite a 400-600MW unplanned curtailment of the 1.2GW SE3-FI interconnector on 2-22 August as well as a 1.3GW planned curtailment of the 1.5GW SE1-FI power link on 14 August-17 September (see net import chart).

The system could stay tight in the coming days while the OL2 reactor remains off line and import capacity from Sweden remains reduced, with wind output over 21-25 August forecast at 201-428MW, or load factors of only 4-8pc.

By Makani Joinville

Sweden-Finland border capacity and net flows GW

Finnish hydro, coal and peat generation rise GW

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