It`s getting chilly in Europe, and the cold spell is going to be a serious trial for countries and people in the wake of an ongoing energy crisis and soaring energy prices, as power and heat outages are looming.
In Scandinavia temperatures are forecast to reach -23 Celsius next Monday. As weather forecasters explain, a high pressure dome over Greenland is forcing low pressure waves eastwards over the Nordics. As a result, all of northern Europe will feel the chill next week.
“Everything suggests that the cold weather will last for at least the next 10 days,” claims meteorologist Mattias Lind.
The winter chill exacerbates an existing energy crisis. For instance, in Sweden Oskarshamn 3 - the country's biggest nuclear reactor - is currently disconnected from the electricity grid. Economists state that the country will become highly dependent on power imports from Norway, Germany and Poland.
In Finland, the Olkilouto 3 reactor, which was supposed to be put into commercial use in December, is now expected to only be operational in late January. Fingrid, the national grid operator, reportedly said that the practice of warming cars up before getting in should be considered a luxury.
Germany also has to brace for tough times amid the winter cold. Its citizens were praised by authorities for their austere approach to gas consumption in November, while the temperature was still mild. However, right now the temperature is reaching -7 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country and this means that households will likely increase heat consumption.
“It is very likely that there will be an increase in heating demand to cope with the colder conditions that are likely to persist through most of the month,” claims Alexandra Sherred, an associate meteorologist at The Weather Co.
Germany's Federal Network Agency – Bundesnetzagentur- urges households and companies to reduce heating in order to preserve fuel.
“We must keep in mind that the winter can drag on,” stated Klaus Mueller, president of the Federal Network Agency.
Other European nations can also feel the impact of the worsening energy crisis. Last week Paris warned French citizens about possible power outages in the coming weeks. Similar concerns were expressed by experts:
“The situation is quite bad — colder weather or any more unexpected outages could lead to power shortages in France. Next to this, high prices are damaging to both industry and consumers,” stated Lukas Bunsen, head of research for Central Europe at Aurora Energy Research.
Representatives of UK National Grid warned of possible blackouts between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on “really, really cold” weekdays in January and February. However, this scenario will unfold only if gas imports are reduced.
British former PM Boris Johnson admits that this winter will be hard for Europe and next winter will be even harder:
“For all who rely on supplies of Russian gas, this winter will be very tough, though thanks to prodigious organizational efforts to store gas supplies we will get through it. The bigger problem is next winter—2023-24—when those stocks will have been run down and become harder to replenish.”
The energy crisis in Europe has been largely inflicted by anti-Russian sanctions. Economists point out that European countries are unable to find meaningful substitute for Russian gas in the near future.
On December 5, a price cap on Russian oil, introduced by G7 governments, went into effect. Russian officials stressed many times that Moscow will not be supplying oil and gas to countries that adopt the price cap initiative.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak dubbed the price cap an “unprecedented intervention” in the principles of the free market. He also pointed out that the politicization of the energy market will only cause more economic turmoil across the world.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia “won't shoot its own leg” by supplying hydrocarbons to countries that adopt a price cap. Instead, Russia will simply be re-orienting oil and gas exports to Asian markets. India, for instance, has already bought about 40% of Russian Urals Crude as of November.