Dry Weather To Impact Europe’s Power Generation Through September

The hot and dry weather in Germany will continue through September, according to weather forecasts, which could constrain power generation in the country and nuclear power supply in France.

Forecasters at MetDesk tell Montel that water levels in rivers will be very low in the coming week. These low levels are already affecting coal and fuel supply along the Rhine River, and nuclear power generation in France, where high temperatures of rivers make them too hot to cool reactors.

The weather patterns could further constrain the power supply in Europe, exacerbating the energy crisis.

Germany, which has started to run more coal-fired power plants to conserve gas, could see reduced generation from two of its coal plants over the next five weeks due to potentially limited coal supply because of low water levels on the Rhine.

According to notices posted on the power bourse EEX, Germany’s energy giant Uniper – the one the government bailed out last month with a $15-billion package – warned that units at two coal power plants it operates could experience irregularities until September 7.

Uniper advised that there may be irregular operation at unit Datteln 4 due to a limitation of coal volumes on site caused by the low water levels of the Rhine river. For the same reason, the Staudinger 5 plant may also see irregular operation until September 7, Uniper said.

This summer, the low water levels on the Rhine have already caused logistics issues with coal in Germany. Power plants in Germany are finding it increasingly difficult to source coal amid an energy crisis that is spiraling out of control as falling water levels on the Rhine River add to supply challenges caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Two German power plants in particular–one in Mannheim and one in Karlsruhe–are lacking sufficient coal supplies for operations. Those supplies would typically be shipped in through the Rhine.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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