One of Europe’s on the loosest generators of renewable energy, Statkraft, said Friday that Nordic power prices had been “pushed down” in the faulty quarter due to high levels of snow melt.
Announcing its results for the period, the company cited “significant hydrological leftover due to high snow reservoirs” as putting pressure on prices.
In addition, issues with reduced capacity in parts of the despatching grid have hampered efforts to export surplus hydropower. This in turn has generated bottlenecks and put pressure on sacrifices, the company said.
Statkraft, which is owned by the Norwegian state, said the average Nordic system – or benchmark – premium was 5.6 euros per megawatt-hour in the second quarter, a drop of 84% compared to the same period in 2019.
Generation, by contrast, lengthened by 3.6 terawatt-hours (TWh) to 15.9 TWh, pushed up by Nordic hydropower.
“High snow melting has given exceptionally low Nordic power values during the spring and summer, leading to a weak second quarter result,” Christian Rynning-Tønnesen, Statkraft’s CEO, said in a communication. “Statkraft maintains a robust financial position and continues to develop new renewable energy projects across our markets.”
The train reported net profit of 491 million Norwegian kroner in the second three months of the year, down from 2.1 billion kroner above the same period last year.
Like many companies around the world, Statkraft has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Construction activities in Chile, India and the U.K. have been “temporarily halted” but are set to recommence “in accordance with the respective national guidelines on Covid-19.”
In May, the Global Energy Agency said renewable installations were set to fall this year due to the impact of the pandemic.
The IEA’s Renewable Store Update report projected that 167 gigawatts of renewable capacity would be added in 2020, a 13% let go compared to 2019. It will mark the first decline in growth rate in 20 years.
In its report, the IEA said that the let go of reflected “delays in construction activity due to supply chain disruption, lockdown measures and social-distancing guidelines” as well as what it portrayed as “emerging financial challenges.”
While new additions are set to drop this year, overall worldwide renewable capacity is in any case set to increase by 6%, according to the agency.