Hydropower production in the Balkan countries continued to fall in the period from February 13 to 19, but then increased again in the following week due to a sharp increase in inflows on the Danube, hydrological reports and data from ENTSO-E.
It is expected that production in hydroelectric power plants in the Balkans will continue to grow in early March. However, production could fall later in the month if the weather forecast, which predicts longer periods without precipitation, holds true.
Combined hydropower production in Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina fell 18 percent in the week of February 13-19, but rose 16 percent the following week, to 1.05 TWh. In the period from February 20 to 26, there was a decrease in production at hydroelectric power plants on the Danube in Romania and Serbia, as well as a higher total production of hydropower in Croatia and Slovenia.
At the same time, hydropower production recorded a decline in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria, while production of storage HPPs in Serbia also retreated from recent highs.
During this period, the decline in hydropower reserves throughout the region was stopped. Combined reserves have changed little over the past three weeks and are more than 5 TWh, which is 15 percent more than the same period last year.
Electricity spot prices fell in the week of February 20-26 thanks to warm weather and higher production of renewable energy sources. The day-ahead baseload price in the market was around EUR 163 per MWh in Hungary and Romania, and then fell to EUR 150 per MWh at the end of the month.
Production of run-of-river HPPs is expected to continue to grow in most of the region, with inflows on the Danube remaining above the seasonal norm in both Serbia and Romania. Flows on Bulgarian rivers will also rise briefly thanks to the expected rainfall.
