This traded value is 65% of the Bucharest Stock Exchange level, EUR1 billion.
The most important transaction on the OPCOM was EUR77 million electricity purchase by steel plant ArcelorMittal Galati, the second largest consumer in the country, from state-run nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica.
The bilateral contract market, where buyers and sellers meet and sign long-term deals, saw the highest jump in amounts traded, according to OPCOM data.
Traded volume on this market stood at 9.47 TWh of electricity or 36% of the country’s energy consumption, almost 5.5 times more than in the same time last year. Traded electricity price fell 15.6% to EUR43.2/MWh, though.
Looking at the centralized data, ZF found almost 270 deals concluded on the bilateral contract market in the first half, compared with only 31 in the first half of 2012.
There are several explanations for this market trend. Whereas the only power sellers in the first half of 2012 were the major energy complexes and Electrocentrale Galati, solar and wind power producers, as well as Hidroelectrica and Nuclearelectrica joined them in 2013. Nuclearelectrica signed the biggest contract so far, with ArcelorMittal Galati.
Electricity suppliers, too, traded on the market, as the law requires all market participants to close bilateral deals only on OPCOM.
The spot electricity market, too, did better in the first half of 2013, going up 40% in volume. Prices, on the other hand, dropped 35% to EUR31.8/MWh.
The main reason for the price decline on both OPCOM markets was the decline in power consumption by 5% in the first half, in addition to the very good year for hydropower production and a significant production of wind power. Moreover, the abrupt decline in prices on the spot market made many consumers choose it over long-term bilateral contracts.
According to OPCOM data, last year’s traded volume stood at 25.2 TWh, almost half of the 2012 consumption in Romania and the traded value was 5.7 billion lei (EUR1.3 billion). Out of the 25.2 TWh, 10.7 TWh were sold on the spot market.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)