Winter is coming indeed, the coldest season of the year with frozen water bodies, short daylight hours, a time when electricity is highly required to keep homes warm and enable industrial and commercial processes. Unfortunately, there is a global, severe energy crux as many countries struggle to keep their lights on.
Over the last couple of weeks, several countries have been down-at-heel to the energy crisis. In Asia, for example, natural gas prices are skyrocketing and causing a big challenge for the continent; China is facing severe energy challenges as it cannot secure enough coal to run its enormous power plants. To this effect, it has implemented extreme power cuts and periodic blackouts. As a result, factories have shut down, commodities like silicon used in the production of solar cells are in short supply, hence the rising cost for solar panels.
What exactly is the primary cause of this energy crisis? Could it be that transition into clean energy sources was poorly planned and rapidly implemented? Or is the post-pandemic demand for energy too much to handle?
Natural gas, for instance, has been classified as an indispensable fuel for ages, but excessive market demand weighed down its supply. For one, many countries have transited into the use of liquified natural gas. This new market has homogenised European and Asian markets so that they are now pulling from the same sources. Europe’s huge gas crisis is also attributed to Russia’s decision to cut gas supply through its pipelines to the rest of the continent (learn more).
On the other hand, China utilises an enormous portion of coal to power most of its power grids and imports from Australia. It, however, stopped buying coal from Australia over a COVID-19 dispute and began importing from Europe and South Asia. Both continents have equally run short of supply.
Renewable energy, though contributing a quota to aid energy supply, is not enough to give balance to the rising energy demand; there is the challenge of battery storage, the rising cost of solar panels, lack of strong offshore winds to power windmills and with the coming winter, perceived freezing of water bodies that will ultimately affect hydropower supply.
Given Texas harrowing experience during the last winter, how would countries cope when winter finally arrives, given this current predicament?