This is what happens when the Greens get control. The only power plants they will let be built must be powered by wind now. I guess they can sweat to death this summer.
European heatwave sparks power dilemma
PARIS (Reuters) - Scorching temperatures threaten to cut output at Europe's nuclear power stations as homes and businesses crank up air conditioners in search of relief from a second week of searing heat.
In France, where temperatures have hit about 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the past few days, the government on Monday warned there could be blackouts if electricity production continued to be stretched.
At emergency talks to try to stave off cuts, it agreed to allow the country's nuclear power plants to pour cooling water back into rivers at a hotter temperature than usual to help them meet surging demand.
State power utility Electricite de France had been forced to lower production at some of the nuclear plants due to the environmental rules.
"For the moment they have been driven to reduce their capacity for production, bit by bit to conform with the rules that have been fixed for them," French Environment Minister Roselyne Bachelot told a news conference.
"Evidently, if this situation continues it could lead to (a) fall in electrical voltage and...we cannot not envisage significant blackouts," she added. "We have to prepare for that."
Nuclear plants pour water back into rivers, but usually only once it has been cooled to a safe temperature. About 80 percent of France's electricity needs are met by 19 nuclear power stations.
Two southern German states also temporarily raised permitted temperature limits on outflows of cooling water from nuclear power stations to allow the plants to remain operational.
Capacity at the Neckarwestheim and Philippsburg stations in Baden-Wuerttemberg and the Isar 1 station in Bavaria has already been cut by as much as 60 percent as the recent heatwave limited the amount of cooling water available.
Swiss power officials, meanwhile, have cut output throughout the summer at their nuclear plants rather than put hotter cooling-off water into the Alpine country's rivers.
RESERVOIRS LOW
Europe's hot and dry summer has depleted its rivers, causing additional problems for hydro-electric power suppliers.
Hydropower reservoirs are lower than normal in the Nordic region, which depends on hydro stations for more than half its electricity. The low water levels have sparked worries about power shortages next winter and lifted forward prices of electricity to all-time highs.
In Norway, the basins are just 66 percent full against 88 percent at the same time a year ago. Sweden's reservoirs are 61 percent full compared with 81 percent this time last year.
Authorities insist no crisis is looming, but the deregulated Nordic power market fears a repeat of last winter when electricity prices soared, hitting consumers in a region accustomed to abundant and cheap power.
The Danube, which ensures 40 percent of the electricity produced in Romania's hydropower plants, has shrunk to its lowest level in a century.
"The drastic decrease of the water flow directly influences the electricity output, which is around 20 percent lower than our estimates at the beginning of the year," Hidroelectrica said in the statement.
Croatia, which has already suffered devastating forest fires, has been forced to turn to imports to plug the gaps caused by hydro-electric power problems and the HEP power board said on Monday that cuts were looming.
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