The Winter Outlook report published by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) has highlighted the progress in making the electricity system resilient over the past year. Looking at the challenges in the European electricity sector in the coming months, ENTSO-E underlines that disruptions in electricity supply this winter are even less likely than they were 12 months ago. It also stresses that the currently exceptionally high energy prices has not adversely affected the system adequacy in Europe.
According to the ENTSO-E report, the potential risks that remain are limited and concern only specific countries. The schedule of nuclear planned outages in France for this winter, which was already identified as particularly dense, has become even more due to the health crisis. This crisis disrupted the schedule for maintenance work at the very heart of the first lockdown, having impacts on the two following years at least. Although it returned to historical levels during summer, the forecast availability of nuclear reactors for the next winter appears to be very low and close to (or slightly below) last winter’s levels, and therefore significantly lower than the levels observed before the pandemic.
The report shows that, in 2021, a total of 1,689 MW of new natural-gas fired capacity has been commissioned in Europe. In the same period, Europe lost more than 6,400 MW of electricity generation capacity, of which 4,058 MW were due to the closure of nuclear units in Germany alone. However, Europe added 14,808 MW from renewable sources: 8,355 MW in wind and 6,461 in solar. The most spectacular developments in the wind sector were recorded by Sweden (+ 2,023 MW), Spain (+ 1,169 MW) and the Netherlands (+ 1,050 MW).
ENTSO-E is the association for the cooperation of the transmission system operators (TSOs) in 35 European countries.
