: Climate Change Saved Europe From Putin This Winter #WorldNEWS Climate change has kept Europe warm enough this winter to save it from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s energy crisis, but the

Climate Change Saved Europe From Putin This Winter #WorldNEWS
Climate change has kept Europe warm enough this winter to save it from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s energy crisis, but the respite may prove fleeting if—perhaps when—those same climate changes cause a crisis this summer. A warm and dry winter usually means a hot and dry summer, and Europe’s short-term relief could keep the continent from preparing for the next wave of energy crunches.
Last year saw record breaking heat in much of the world, and a winter as historically mild as this one does not bode well for Europe’s coming summer temperatures. With less winter snow and thus less snowmelt, plus hotter and dryer weather leading to greater evaporation and higher electricity consumption for cooling, summer 2023 could roil European and global energy markets once again and then leave Europe ill prepared for next winter.

The immediate effect of a mostly snowless and warm winter on the probable summer energy situation is constrained electricity generation. In 2022, severe droughts across Europe caused a massive decrease in water levels in rivers and lakes. For example, Portugal’s reservoirs were at only 29% capacity no further into summer than the end of July 2022. Many others across Europe dropped so low that hydroelectric plants couldn’t operate fully, or at all. Spain’s hydroelectric generation dropped over 53% and major hydro plants were forced to close. Italy’s declined by 37. 7%. France’s power production overall hit an all time low, with hydroelectric shortfalls at 22% due to equally record low water levels. This is a mere sampling.
Water levels matter for keeping the lights on. In 2020 and 2021, hydropower was approximately 17% of the E. U. ’s electricity. If this summer even just approaches the heat and dryness of 2022, Europe could lose double-digit generation capacity. And, of course, Europe enters this summer with water levels still devastated by last year. The forecasts, meanwhile, are that it will be hotter than last year. The U. K. ’s official weather service, the Met Office, expects the La Niña cooling pattern that has been in effect the last three years to lift, leading to higher global temperatures. Others agree. But even if it is not hotter, it will be dryer because of the record low snowfall so far this winter.
Hydropower is not just important as generation capacity, however. It also provides grid stabilization services because it can be more flexible—“dispatchable,” meaning available on demand—than other types of power. This is because a dam can be opened or closed at will to release water from the reservoir behind it, whereas other power sources require fuel or cooperative weather.