News Energy
Electricity prices fluctuate due to the weather
Prices in the energy markets are fluctuating strongly at the moment. Where the oil market is stabilizing, we see the price of electricity fluctuate a lot from day to day. Politics creates additional uncertainty in the energy market through discussion about the construction of Nord Stream 2.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil continues to hover around $55 dollars this week. The market thus seems to have processed the production agreements of Opec+. It is striking that the price of diesel has dropped slightly. For a bulk delivery from 4000 liters, €22 per 96,59 liters will be requested on Friday 100 January. That is more than €2 less per 100 liters than Monday.
Electricity
There are major differences between the days on the Epex market. Where last Friday, January 15, the price peaked at €72,78 per MW/h, the price dropped to €21 per MW/h on Thursday, January 43,30. The windless and cold days last week caused the price peak. The windy and milder weather this week caused prices to fall. The weather appears to have a major influence on the electricity price.
Week on week Over The Counter Elektra monthly contracts for February and March 2021 are about 5% lower. The contracts for the later months of 2021 are approximately 3% lower, reports Agro-Energie.
Green hydrogen factory in Hamburg
Vattenvall, Shell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the municipal district heating company Warme Hamburg today (January 22) presented plans for the construction of a 100 MW hydrogen plant in Hamburg. The factory should be operational by 2025. It is then one of the largest hydrogen factories in Europe. The new plant is to replace Vattenvall's coal-fired power station which was decommissioned at the end of 1 after only 2020 years of operation. The existing infrastructure is used as much as possible for the power supply to the factory and the energy must come from wind and sun.
Political influence
There is a lot of uncertainty about the construction of the last part of the Nord Stream 2. With the new pipeline, the supply capacity between Russia and Germany should be doubled. This should provide greater security on the European energy market.
The previously announced US sanctions came into effect this week. Any company associated with the pipeline could face punitive action from the US. Because the measures are supported by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, policy is unlikely to change under new US President Biden. The Dutch dredging companies and Allseas, Boskalis and Van Oord withdrew earlier for this reason.
Now the European Parliament is also calling on the construction to stop immediately. This in response to the arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Shutting down the project would be an important economic leverage to get the Kremlin to release Navalny. Germany is ultimately in charge of the construction of Nord Stream 2 and Chancellor Merkel has said she will stay for the construction.
Jurphaas Lugtenburg
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