Recently, many places around the world have encountered rare heat waves, and power supply in Europe, the United States, Japan and other places has continued to be tight. Industry insiders believe that in addition to the impact of energy shortages, climate anomalies caused by global climate change will also affect the supply of energy prices such as coal and natural gas.
Record-breaking heatwave hits many countries
This year, many places around the world experienced rare heat waves. On June 30, the temperature in Tokyo, Japan reached 36.4 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature in Tokyo in June since records began in 1875. Affected by the continuous high temperature, the Tokyo Electric Power Company's power supply area has issued a power supply shortage warning for four consecutive days. According to forecasts by the power operation regulator, the power reserve in the Tokyo area on the evening of June 30 barely reached the level required to ensure stable power supply.
The sweltering heat in Europe came earlier than before, and many places encountered high temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius and secondary disasters. The hot weather continues to affect other European countries such as Germany and Italy, and the demand for electricity continues to increase as the temperature rises. However, due to the crisis in Ukraine, the import of natural gas in Europe from Russia has dropped sharply, and power generation has also been affected. German officials have called on the public to save electricity a few days ago.
A similar situation is playing out in the United States. According to US media reports, 97% of California is currently in a state of severe or extreme drought. As the nation's main producer of vegetables, fruits and nuts, California's agriculture is suffering a severe blow from the ongoing drought.
The National Weather Service said on the 21st local time that parts of the central and western regions will continue to suffer from heat waves, including California, Michigan, Wisconsin and other states. On the 21st, there were power outages in Wisconsin and other places, and the continuation of the high temperature further aroused local people's concerns about electricity consumption. According to earlier forecasts, nearly 20% of the U.S. population is expected to suffer from high temperatures of nearly 38 degrees Celsius this week.
In order to meet energy demand, many European countries have recently restarted coal power generation.
According to the global natural gas supply and demand balance table calculated by the International Energy Agency, it is predicted that in 2022, the global supply will increase by 0.3% month-on-month, while the demand will decrease by 0.2% month-on-month, with a surplus of about 46BCM (accounting for 1.1% of demand). The increase in supply was mainly concentrated in the Middle East, the United States and China, with month-on-month growth of 3%, 3% and 4% respectively. The decline in demand was mainly concentrated in Europe and Russia, with a month-on-month decline of 6% and 5%.