POWER
Nordic hydropower reserves edged down slightly for the second consecutive week in week 39, with stocks at 81.1% of capacity, or 102.96TWh amid higher demand in the region, however, strong rainfall kept the drawdown limited.
- Stocks decreased by 0.1 percentage points compared to a 0.7-point loss the week prior.
- Precipitation in the Nordic region rose sharply on the week over 23-29 Sept totalling 46.36mm compared to 1.8mm totalled over 16-22 Sept (week 38) and higher compared to 45.8mm totalled in week 37 – supporting stocks.
- But higher demand on the week weighed on stocks, with Norwegian demand averaging 14.50GW compared to 13.29GW in week 38. Swedish demand averaged 13.4GW up from 12.8GW over the same period.
- Reservoir levels widened their on-year deficit to 2.8 points from just a 0.8-point loss in week 38 and compared to a 3.6-point surplus in week 37.
- The deficit to the 19-year average widened to 3 points from 2.9 points in week 38.
- Swedish reserves moved upward to be at 80% of capacity from 78.9%, while Norwegian reserves fell to 82.8% from 83.3% in week 37.
- And Finnish hydro stocks continued to descend, dropping to 60.6% of capacity from 60.8% the week prior and lower than 75% recorded for the same week last year.
- Looking ahead, the latest ECMWF suggests Norway’s and Sweden’s hydrological balance to end at -38GWh and +1.02TWh, respectively, on 16 Oct compared to -102GWh and +569GWh in the previous forecasts for the same day.
- The latest ECMWF rain forecasts for Nordics suggest precipitation to total 22.2mm over 3-11 Oct compared to the 30-year norm of 26.2mm over the same period.
Sweden's 1.04GW Forsmark 1 will run at around 1GW of capacity from 2-4 Oct and then decrease to 550MW over 4-5 Oct BST, latest remit data show.
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