The most miserable life right now is probably Europe.

The epidemic has already tortured the global economy, and Europe is even worse.

Energy shortages, high temperatures, droughts, and dry rivers are driving European electricity prices to new peaks.

How outrageous are the electricity prices in Europe?

On August 18, the average price of the European power system reached 322.28 euros/MWh, with Lithuania having the highest price of 571.88 euros/MWh, followed closely by Germany, France, etc., with prices also All are above 550 euros/MWh.

For example, the base load electricity price in Germany has risen to 563.76 euros/MWh, a full increase of about 500% from the same period last year, and nearly twice as high as before the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

High electricity prices are causing headaches for Europeans, but what is worse is that the rise in electricity prices does not know when it will end, because the factors that caused power shortages and soaring electricity prices are still at work.

The skyrocketing electricity prices in Europe are mainly caused by two major reasons: one is energy shortage, and the other is high temperature and drought.

Europe’s energy shortcomings are very obvious. The three major energy sources, natural gas, oil, and coal, are very dependent on foreign countries, as high as 90%, 97%, and 70% respectively.

Natural gas is mainly used for power generation and heating. However, in recent years, Europe has been committed to energy transformation and relies heavily on wind energy and electric energy. However, affected by the La Ni?a phenomenon last year, extreme weather occurred frequently, making wind energy and electricity The efficiency dropped drastically, so Europe had to increase its demand for natural gas, and the price of natural gas naturally increased.

Europe has a natural gas gap of at least about 300 billion cubic meters every year. Russia is the number one source of natural gas imports in Europe. However, with the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States and the West have implemented a series of measures against Russia. A series of sanctions, including reducing dependence on natural gas imports, has also made Europe's already insufficient supply of natural gas even more scarce.

Just when Europe wanted to turn around and restart coal power generation, it found that coal prices had also risen to shocking levels.

With the EU's ban on importing Russian coal taking effect, member states can only turn to other markets to snap up coal, intensifying market competition and pushing up coal prices.

For example, the Australia-Newcastle coal price, which has always been regarded as the benchmark for coal futures prices in the Asia-Pacific region, reached the US$400/ton mark in July, and has since continued to set new records above this mark. new high.

Energy shortages are enough of a headache, but Europe is also notoriously hot this summer.

How hot is it in Europe?

According to previous reports, the runway of the largest air force base in the UK was directly exposed to the sun, and the water reservoirs of farmers in the Swiss Alps have almost bottomed out.

The Po River, the longest river in Italy, has dried up, with large areas of the river bed exposed and ships parked directly on the river bed.

The same situation has occurred in the Rhine River, Europe's lifeline. The water level has dropped significantly, and the water level in some river sections has even dropped to a critical point of about 40 centimeters.

If the water level continues to drop, it will seriously affect Germany's water transportation.

The drought situation in France is not optimistic either.

The decrease in river water and the increase in temperature have caused almost half of the 56 nuclear reactors in France to be shut down. The reason is that nuclear reactors require low-temperature cooling water, and the temperature of the river water is too high to be used. If it is forcibly used and discharged , which may endanger Hanoi’s biota.

Under high temperatures, the demand for electricity surges, driving the price of natural gas to continue to rise, which causes the cost of nitrogen fertilizer production to soar.

European nitrogen fertilizer production capacity has been reduced by 25%, but as costs are still rising, production capacity reductions will increase further in the future.

Many fertilizer companies have warned that European factories will further restrict fertilizer production.

This is even more worrying.

Because chemical fertilizers are directly related to food production, and nitrogen fertilizers are the most produced and used fertilizers in the world.

The main raw materials for the production of nitrogen fertilizer are coal and natural gas. Generally speaking, it takes about 1.5 tons of coal or 615 cubic meters of natural gas to produce 1 ton of nitrogen fertilizer. However, Europe is facing an extreme energy shortage, so nitrogen fertilizer Production was stuck.

Extreme drought and water shortage have posed a huge threat to food production. Coupled with the sharp decline in fertilizer production, Europe's food is even more precarious.

Major European nitrogen fertilizer producers also stated that the shortage of nitrogen fertilizers cannot be ignored, because it may mean that there will be food shortages in the near future, further exacerbating the risk of food crises.

It is still summer, and Europeans are more worried about the cold winter, because the cold in winter is more unbearable than in summer.

Recently, many German families have begun to rush to buy coal and firewood for the winter.

But even firewood has been sold out in many stores.

I wonder if Europe will get colder this winter?