Power: Nov 25-29: Cold air, poor PV jack east markets up
Eastern Japan's prices in wholesale electricity markets vaulted in the week to November 29 as a cold air system created more demand for heating along with weak supply from photovoltaic (PV) power plants under grey skies, with western prices showing a moderate rise.
Based on the Rim Power Index (Day ahead 24 hours), the weekday power prices in the eastern market, including Hokkaido, Tohoku and Tokyo area, averaged out at 12.43 yen per kilowatt hour (kWh), up 2.92 yen/kWh or 30.7% from the previous week, meanwhile prices in the western, made up of Chubu, Hokuriku, Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu area, at 7.87 yen/kWh, up 0.25 yen/kWh, or 3.3%. The premium of Hokkaido against Tokyo narrowed to 0.36 yen from the prior week's 1.26 yen/kWh, with Hokkaido's average 12.87 yen/kWh (prior week's ave:10.67 yen) and Tokyo's 12.47 yen/kWh (9.41 yen), which are calculated from data compiled by the Japan Electric Power Exchange. The gap between the western average and Kyushu's stood at 0.43 yen/kWh compared with previous week's 0.37 yen/kWh, with western's 7.87 yen/kWh and Kyushu's 7.44 yen/kWh.
In eastern Japan, Tokyo's daily highest temperatures for Nov 26 to 29 were estimated at 10 to 11 degrees Celsius by the Japan Meteorological Agency on a day ahead basis (note: 19 deg C for Nov 25), compared to the previous week's range of 6 to 12 deg C. Sapporo's daily lows for the week were projected at minus 4 to plus 2 deg C. The cold-air system created more electricity demand for heating, tightening the balance of supply and demand as PV plants provided less electricity to the markets under overcast skies nearly every day. On the other hand, western markets relatively immune to the cold air mass.
On the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX), the weekday average of System Price (Day ahead 24 hours), which are computed based on the data of 9 areas, gained by 0.63 yen/kWh or 7.4% to 9.12 yen/kWh, with the average volume increasing by 33,604 megawatt per hour (MWh) to 836,714 MWh.
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