(Montel) High guarantees of origin (GOs) prices helped push Nordic spot prices to record low levels over the weekend, power traders said on Monday.
GOs had increased in value considerably in the last year, allowing hydropower producers, for example, to still make money if the power price dropped below zero, said Sindre Ims, head of power trading at Norwegian utility Lyse.
GOs from Nordic hydropower generated this year were currently trading at around EUR 7/MWh, up from EUR 2/MWh a year ago, while the regional system price hit a record hourly low of EUR -5.67/MWh on Sunday.
Such low prices have previously been unheard of on the Nordic market, where hydropower producers traditionally held back production to keep prices positive.
Operational costs
However, Lars Magnus Gunther, spokesman at Norway’s largest power generator Statkraft, said it was not always rational to cut output if prices dropped below zero, citing operational costs as well as additional earnings from GOs or Nordic Elcerts.
The low power prices this weekend were mainly caused by high hydropower and solar output compounded by high imports, said traders.
Inflow to Nordic hydropower reservoirs stood at around 2 TWh on Sunday due to heavy snowmelt, which was well above the seasonal average of 1.35 TWh, according to Energy Quantified.
Power consumption was also subdued by mild weather and typically lower weekend demand, while solar power output was twice as high as normal at 1.2 GW.
Source: Montel News
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