An unprecedented heatwave has increased the demand for energy to help cool Europe’s homes and businesses, and now the continent is preparing for the possibility of a full-blown gas crisis later this week.
French authorities reported there soon could be a “heat apocalypse” in Western Europe. According to the French Interior Ministry, more than 15,000 individuals in France were evacuated from their homes due to escalating wildfires. In Britain, airport runways melted, and trains were delayed because of worries about buckled steel tracks. In several areas of the British Isles, meteorologists predicted that Tuesday may be the hottest day ever recorded.
Numerous wildfires were started when temperatures in some parts of the Iberian Peninsula reached 115 degrees. Over a thousand heat-related deaths occurred in Spain and Portugal last week. Hospitals are already stressed from dealing with an increase in coronavirus infections, and heat-related illnesses have added to the load. Hydrologists are warning of the profound consequences of the widespread drought, declining water tables, and damaged harvests, the impact of which could take years to recover.
In a region where air conditioning is not as common as in the United States, the arrival of intensely hot weather has led to new demands.
In areas of France and Spain, wildfires are raging as temperatures are anticipated to rise beyond 104 degrees over the next several days.
Spanish utility provider Enagas stated last week, “This huge increase in the demand for natural gas for electricity production has been mainly due to the high temperatures recorded as a result of the heatwave.”
To prevent a possibly catastrophic winter energy shortfall, European nations are rushing to fill up their gas storage tanks.
According to Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, the “next few months will be critical” to bolstering the bloc’s supply.
“If Russia decides to completely cut off gas supplies before Europe can get its storage levels up to 90%, the situation will be even more grave and challenging,” he added.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which connects Russia’s gas to the European Union, is scheduled to resume on Thursday following ten days of standard maintenance. As a result of the sanctions the EU has put in place since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, there is growing concern that Russia may continue to cut off supplies.
Earlier this month, Robert Habeck, Germany’s economy minister, said that the country must “prepare for the worst.”
“Anything can happen. It could be that the gas flows again, even more than before. It could be that nothing will come at all,” he said.
Around 40% of Europe’s total pipeline imports from Russia are delivered to the continent through this pipeline each year, totaling 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Russian gas may become inaccessible as the nation has already reduced its gas shipments to several European countries. Germany, the largest economy in the area, declared a “gas crisis” last month when Gazprom, Russia’s national gas provider, reduced shipments via the pipeline by 60%.
Gazprom attributed the action to the West’s choice to withhold necessary turbines due to sanctions.