Gas and electricity prices are skyrocketing across Europe and there is a lack of supplies.
The first companies shut down plants, a study sees the risk of large-scale blackouts.
Munich - Almost every second household in Germany is heated with gas.
In view of rising natural gas prices, they are facing a horror winter, they have to take into account high heating costs.
Due to the almost empty storage facilities, there is even a risk of regional supply bottlenecks in the cold season.
Other countries like the UK are hit worse by the crisis.
But just like consumers, companies are also affected by the energy crisis, especially if they operate in energy-intensive sectors.
For example, the US fertilizer manufacturer CF Industries stopped production at two British plants last week due to increased natural gas prices.
For the same reason, the Norwegian chemical company Yara International announced that it would cut back or even shut down ammonium production in plants in some European countries.
According to information from
ntv, the sharp
rise in prices for electricity as well as gas, oil and coal is also having a negative impact on
German companies such as BASF and the copper producer Aurubis.
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BASF is also hit hard by the high energy prices
© Uwe Anspach / dpa / picture alliance
Energy crisis in Europe: there could be widespread power outages
There doesn't seem to be any all-clear for the foreseeable future. In its current gas market overview, Goldman Sachs sees the risk of large-scale power outages in the coming winter, with reference to low storage stocks, scarce supplies and increasing demand, should it get as cold and last as long as last year. Governments could therefore be forced to close individual branches of industry.
The energy crisis hits all of Europe.
Not only Germany groans about high electricity prices.
In Italy, for example, they rose by 20 percent in the last quarter alone, and according to Italian Environment Minister Roberto Cingolani another 40 percent could be added in the autumn.
Italy has also increased government-regulated gas prices and announced further price increases.
In Spain, the price of electricity even tripled in the first half of the year.
Energy crisis in Europe: calm wind causes coal-fired power generation to increase again
To make matters worse, parts of Europe have recently been affected by an unusual calm wind, including Germany.
The Federal Statistical Office reports that in this country in the first half of 2021, electricity feed-in from wind power was 21 percent lower than in the same period of the previous year.
Coal, on the other hand, is experiencing a revival.
With a plus of 35.5 percent, electricity from coal-fired power plants recorded the highest increase compared to the same period of the previous year.
Coal thus made up 27.1 percent of the total amount of electricity fed into the grid.
The increasing power generation from coal leads to a vicious circle.
Because lignite-fired power plants emit a particularly large amount of CO2, the price for CO2 emission certificates also rose, which in turn makes all types of fossil energy generation more expensive.
Energy crisis in Europe: upswing is being slowed down
But European companies are not only affected by rising energy costs.
The upswing after the Corona crisis is also being slowed down by supply bottlenecks, for example in the case of microchips.
The whole development also has consequences for consumer prices, which are rising inexorably.
In view of the high inflation rate, even politicians are sounding the alarm *.
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List of rubric lists: © Uwe Anspach