Brutal cold wave in Europe leads to record-high energy prices
12/01/2021 / By Mary Villareal
A brutal cold wave is sweeping across Europe, bringing in tons of snow, triggering power outages and devastating several countries with lows that have not been seen since 1980 in Sweden.
The extreme freeze over northern Scandinavia has also caused energy prices to soar to record highs. The main reason is the high consumption combined with ice formation on rivers with hydropower plants in northern Sweden, where it is closely linked together by the same electricity grid.
The low production in Sweden pushed power prices up, and the same happened in northernmost Norway. On Sunday, Nov. 28, the price of electricity came at 1.92 kroner/kWh ($0.21/kWh) on the spot market, which is the highest that it’s been in the Arctic Circle since 2010.
Current prices are also up to ten times higher compared to the average daily over the first three weeks of November.
On Monday afternoon, Nov. 29, spot prices that retailers use to purchase electricity from the wholesale market climbed further up to 3 kroner/kWh ($0.33/kWh), which has never been seen before in northern Norway.
https://www.climate.news/2021-12-01-cold-wave-leads-to-record-energy-prices.html#
