[HN Gopher] European Energy Crisis: price per MWh now above 300 ...
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       European Energy Crisis: price per MWh now above 300 EUR in many
       countries
        
       Author : wsc981
       Score  : 14 points
       Date   : 2021-12-19 20:46 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (twitter.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (twitter.com)
        
       | ElDji wrote:
       | EU commission wanted free market. It will lower energy prices,
       | they said. That worked quite well isn't ?
        
         | kmlx wrote:
         | june 2020 had the lowest ever prices. no one was complaining.
         | 
         | in reality these high prices are due to a combination of
         | factors:
         | 
         | - countries reopened after covid at the same time across the
         | planet leading to pressure from asia to europe
         | 
         | - norway's gas infrastructure works
         | 
         | - cold winter and spring followed by a very hot summer which
         | increased energy demand for heating and AC
         | 
         | - lack of wind in northern Europe meaning burning more coal and
         | gas
         | 
         | - fire at a Russian gas processing plant in August reducing
         | output from Russia to Europe. thus Russia couldn't fulfil
         | anything more than long-term contracts (no spot)
         | 
         | - Russia's Putin also has an interest to put pressure on
         | Europeans in order to fast track Nord Stream 2.
         | 
         | - Putin also wants Europeans to rely less on the free market
         | and more on long term contracts, since those disincentivise
         | investments in energy efficiency, diversification, the
         | transition to cleaner energy sources. EU initiatives have also
         | made Europe less susceptible to market manipulation by Gazprom
         | than it used to be. these are big no-no's for the Kremlin
        
           | Ekaros wrote:
           | Also I think Norway's reservoir levels are low. Which also
           | affects prices as they are likely to import some energy.
        
       | ipspam wrote:
       | Self inflicted problems. This is largely a result of an inability
       | to stock and store large amounts of natural gas due to climate
       | change activists getting their way.
       | 
       | Hopefully this coming nightmare of a winter will dispel people of
       | their fantasies about transitioning to a green economy fast.
        
       | maratc wrote:
       | Interesting why France (with its nuclear power plants) and
       | Switzerland (with hydro) have the highest prices.
        
       | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-19 23:01 UTC)