European energy production from different types of power plants in 2022
Another small but important factor contributing to the current European gas crisis is the abnormal heat wave.
On the one hand, because of the abnormal heat wave, there is a drought, lower water levels in rivers and a drop in hydropower generation (in January-July 2022 - 20% compared to the same period in 2021). On the other hand, due to the increased temperature of rivers it became more difficult to cool the reactors of nuclear power plants, so the output of nuclear power plants had to be reduced (by 12% compared to last year).
Result: growth of production at gas-fired power plants (namely gas is the second largest source of energy in the EU now), by 4% compared to last year, despite all the problems with prices and supplies. By the way, the output of coal-fired power plants also grew quite nicely, by 11% at once.
