Publications / Hungarian Energy Market Report
REKK Hungarian Energy Market Report 2017 Q4.Published: 1 of February, 2018
Overview of the European Wholesale Electricity Sector I European gas-infrastructure in light of the Commission’s new LNG and storage strategy I Economic analysis of combined heat and power plants participating in the district heating service of Budapest

Table of contents

Overview of the European Wholesale Electricity Sector

In this article, we highlight the main trends and developments in the European wholesale electricity market since 2015, looking at variations in electricity consumption and the fuel mix, the latter driven by relative fuel prices, and economics of renewable electricity policy and subsidies, leading to the following key conclusions.

European gas-infrastructure in light ofthe Commission’s new LNG and storage strategy

After the European Commission released its strategic vision for EU LNG and Storage in 2016 REKK published a study examining the elasticity of European gas-infrastructure and the effects of storage related regulatory measures (storage obligations and strategic stocks). It tested the effect of the Strategy’s infrastructure priorities on supply security and market integration under scenarios of high and low global LNG supply and gas demand projections. The modelling results justify most of the projects outlined, which together reduce prices in CEE by 0.2-0.3 EUR/MWh, leading to price convergence in Europe.

Economic analysis of combined heat and power plants participating in the district heating service of Budapest

With energy efficiency and climate policy requirements and lingering uncertainty over the future role of gas, a number of questions face the future of gas based combined heat and power plants (CHPs) that currently participate in district heating. In our analysis, we present key business data from the prior fiscal year for the power plants with a notable weight in the district heat supply of Budapest (Budapest Power Station (BERT), Alpiq Csepel, MVM North-Buda Heating Plant), pointing out some of the factors that explain the difference between their business performance, especially the effects of taxation. The
investigated power plants are active market participants in both the electricity and the heat markets, therefore data inputs reflect the performance of both business lines. The three BERT and single MVM CHPs operate as heating plants, thus their primary purpose is heat production and power generation is secondary. The production of the Csepel Power Plant, on the other hand, is driven to a much higher extent by the electricity market with a much smaller proportion of heat production. An analysis of the business line reports based on the rules of accounting separation can help provide a more nuanced picture of the recent performance of each power plant, highlighting their similarities and differences, and heat and power market strategies with projected district heating market potential.