This is good news considering the trend of power consumption is tightly linked to the performance of an economy. In the first nine months of 2014, gross consumption of electricity rose on average by 1.1% from the same period of 2013, while output posted an 11.56% increase during the same period of the year, said Transelectrica officials.
While local consumption barely picked up in the last three months, considering demand was still falling in the first half, energy exports increased significantly in the first nine months, with the regional context being favorable for this operation.
Thus, according to Transelectrica data, in the first nine months Romania sent abroad 6 TWh of energy, twice as much as in the year-before period. For instance, in 2013 Romania’s power consumption stood at 49.7 TWh.
According to OPCOM energy bourse data, in the first nine months of this year the average price of energy on spot contracts stood at EUR32/MWh, meaning Romania transmitted EUR194.4 million worth of energy abroad. At the same time, Romania imported around 1 TW of energy, meaning the net flow stood at 5 TWh, net exported quantity.
What are the factors that prompted this unprecedented increase in energy exports?
According to Transelectrica data, one of the explanations is the higher installed power of electrical power stations in Romania, which in early 2014 had production units with a capacity of 23,703 MW.
Starting 2009, over 4,000 new MW have been installed in wind or solar projects. Moreover, in 2012, Petrom, Romania’s largest company, delivered a new, gas-based, station, in Brazi, with a capacity of 860 MW, higher than that of a Cernavoda reactor.
This, doubled by the rising production in hydropower stations, as rainfall quantities in Romania were above the multiannual average in 2014, led to a production surplus, which further translated into falling prices of traded electricity in Romania, according to Transelectrica representatives.
Thus, the cheaper energy found its place on markets in the region, also benefiting from a favorable context.
Transelectrica officials also explain that the emergence of additional trading platforms on OPCOM also spurred energy transactions.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)