While it may be small consolation to people sweltering in the heat wave enveloping southern Europe, electric grids in countries in the region like Italy and Spain have so far met the added demand for power for air-conditioning without any extreme price surges. In a sense, Europe is benefiting from actions taken last year, when soaring natural gas prices resulting from constraints on flows from Russia drove electric power prices to record levels. The European electric grid was also plagued by other problems, including mechanical issues that idled large numbers of France’s nuclear plants. That experience, along with electric power prices that remain substantially higher than what used to be considered normal, have helped dampen demand for electricity despite the high temperatures, analysts say. Incentives also remain in place that encourage the use of high-polluting coal- and oil-burning plants for power generation, measures put in place last year to reduce natural gas consumption.

---

Persons: ”, Marco Alvera Organizations: TES Locations: Europe, Italy, Spain, Russia