Last week, the British capital, London, nearly suffered a blackout, forcing the UK to pay a record electricity bill to Belgium to keep the city running.
Britain’s National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) paid as much as 9,724.54 per megawatt-hour for electricity last Wednesday to avoid a blackout in south-east London, Bloomberg reported. GBPmore than 5000% higher than the normal price.
Energy and commodities columnist Javier Blas said the crisis reflected how, following years of low and no investment, and the “don’t build it in my backyard effect”, most industrialized nations’ energy transport networks—the grid , natural gas and oil pipelines are becoming increasingly vulnerable.
UK grid too old and vulnerable
The scorching heat, which is rare in Europe, exacerbates the severity of the power shortage.
The UK relies on importing electricity from overseas, notably France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
If the grid is normal and there are no traffic jams, the UK will be able to send electricity to the south-east from anywhere else in the country. This includes Scotland, where there are more offshore wind farms than ever before. The problem is that neither the UK nor other industrialised nations have invested enough to upgrade their grids, leaving the system vulnerable to attack.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the global grid investment is regarding $300 billion per year. This number has not changed much since 2015. Although the use of renewable energy is increasing, it has not kept pace with the expansion of demand.
For continental Europe, the Ukrainian war and dwindling gas supplies from Russia have sent energy prices soaring, and now a surge in summer demand has raised concerns regarding whether winter storage targets can be met.
Europe aims to boost gas reserves by at least 80% by November, and has already reached around 65%, but only a small portion of capacity has been restored following the Nord Stream pipeline, which sends gas from Russia to Europe, has been repaired. It’s more difficult.
Kristian Ruby, secretary-general of the European Electricity Industry Association, said: “There is no doubt that the situation is very serious and you need to understand that this is taking place in the context of a very serious gas shortage that is coming.”
French energy prices hit record
France, which has a huge low-carbon nuclear power plant and has been a major exporter of electricity to its European neighbors in the past, has previously suffered a series of power outages that have left more than half of its plants offline. Several remaining factories in France and Belgium had to limit output amid record heat.
French energy prices hit a new record on Tuesday as the cost of natural gas pushed up the price of electricity generation across the continent.
Electricity prices in France to rise 4.6% next year to 495 EUR / MWh, a record high. France is struggling with its dilapidated nuclear infrastructure as falling production capacity affects energy supplies.
Natural gas prices rose to their highest in more than four months as Europe braced for a deeper drop in Russian supplies, prompting EU energy ministers to discuss emergency rules that might cut gas consumption by 15 percent in winter if Russia shuts down supplies.
Last week, French grid operators made an urgent appeal to secure energy supplies from Britain, underscoring the difficulties France faces this winter. In the case of insufficient natural gas supply, energy consumption will further rise.
