France, for instance, isn't suffering in the same way because a great deal of its power comes from its own nuclear power stations.
Norway and Sweden generate lots of hydroelectric power; in Portugal, half of the energy supply comes from water or wind.
Germany tends to avoid problems because it's burning a huge amount of coal. Ditto in Poland, for example.
That's quite handy for the security of supply, albeit it's very bad for the environment, as well as people's lungs.
And there's the UK, which leans heavily into natural gas, with its soaring price.
Britain not only uses a lot of natural gas but has limited capacity for keeping it in storage, so has to rely on imports.
After Brexit, the UK left the European Union's Internal Energy Market, and there's little doubt that the supply process, between Britain and the EU, is now more clunky than it was before. But, fundamentally, it's about the global gas price rising, rather than simply in Europe.
And there are other important issues. Normally, the UK's supply could be supplemented by energy sold to us by France, and provided through the interconnector between the two countries but, as bad luck would have it, that system has been badly damaged by a recent fire that will require lengthy repairs.
At the same time, a number of the UK's most important nuclear plants are not working at full capacity and the recent calm weather has starved the grid of wind power.
So, a bit of a perfect storm.
Norway and Sweden generate lots of hydroelectric power; in Portugal, half of the energy supply comes from water or wind.
Germany tends to avoid problems because it's burning a huge amount of coal. Ditto in Poland, for example.
That's quite handy for the security of supply, albeit it's very bad for the environment, as well as people's lungs.
And there's the UK, which leans heavily into natural gas, with its soaring price.
Britain not only uses a lot of natural gas but has limited capacity for keeping it in storage, so has to rely on imports.
After Brexit, the UK left the European Union's Internal Energy Market, and there's little doubt that the supply process, between Britain and the EU, is now more clunky than it was before. But, fundamentally, it's about the global gas price rising, rather than simply in Europe.
And there are other important issues. Normally, the UK's supply could be supplemented by energy sold to us by France, and provided through the interconnector between the two countries but, as bad luck would have it, that system has been badly damaged by a recent fire that will require lengthy repairs.
At the same time, a number of the UK's most important nuclear plants are not working at full capacity and the recent calm weather has starved the grid of wind power.
So, a bit of a perfect storm.
