In North America, Canada is experiencing the worst wildfire season in history, leading to the forced shutdown of wooden plants in Quebec province and the reduction of oil production in Alberta province. More than 100 million people in the U.S. live in high temperatures, and the huge demand for electricity increases the burden on the grid. The North American Power Reliability Group (NERC) said that most parts of the U.S. could face power outages this summer.
Mexicos temperature jumped in June, and the National Energy Control Center (Cenace) issued a warning that the grid was briefly in a state of emergency, with operating reserves less than 6%. In the heatwave of Europe, the regulatory fees for the Spanish electricity market jumped 20%, and Greeces tourism and French agriculture are threatened by hot climates.
Chloe Brimicombe, a climate researcher at the University of Graz in Austria, said that high temperatures will put pressure on society as a whole and have connected risks, such as stress on energy networks and health services, slowing train operations, melting roads in some areas, possible declines in crop yields, and problems with livestock health and retail.
Bloomberg economist Bhargavi Sakthivel said that droughts and floods in extreme weather will directly affect crops and fisheries, cut off mining and other channels, thereby driving upward inflation.
High temperature weather will not only increase the demand for electricity, but extreme weather will also cause physical damage to power grid parts such as transformers, resulting in power outages, rolling down or total power outages. National Weather Service says that by July 16, new high temperature records will appear in the west, southwest, southern depths and southern Florida. During extreme heat weather, about half of the electricity used in the United States is used for heating equipment, significantly increasing the power grid load.
Unusually hot weather also harms the operation of the economy. In Germany, summer heat causes the Rhin to drop water levels, putting pressure on Europe’s energy and transportation systems. In Greece, Athens, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Greece, will be closed for the third day in a row at the hottest time. Another key water source, the Rhin’s heating, may also force French power companies to restrict nuclear power output from some nuclear reactors. According to French regulations, when the river’s temperature reaches a certain threshold, French power companies must reduce or stop production to ensure that the water used to cool nuclear power stations does not harm the environment when it flows back to the river.