Energy In A Time Of Drought

Europe’s worst drought and heatwave in half a millennium is also a disaster in the realm of energy. It is not just the increased electricity usage for air-conditioning energy usage while Europe needs to be saving its energy for a cold winter without Russian gas, or the over 6,000 deaths in Germany, 1000 deaths in UK, and thousands more across the continent which is rapidly dwarfing the previous 2003 heatwave death rates, which should most concern us. It is the drought, especially the drying of European rivers, which should worry everyone the most.

Europe’s rivers have been hit especially hard. The Rhine has reached historically low water levels of under 42 centimeters with continued dry weather set to lower these levels even further. This has only exacerbated the recent ecological disaster in the Oder River where low water levels are accelerating the mass death of river-borne organisms, especially fish.

Rivers are Europe’s economic and transportation backbone, and their drying will drive up energy and commodity prices. Rivers are the bedrock of European logistics which move vast quantities of goods for import and export. Drying rivers have increased levels of river water salinization as oceans have pushed upstream and, in some cases such as in Italy’s Po River, ruined freshwater-reliant farmlands during a time of food insecurity caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And critically, rivers sustain European energy by cooling turbines and supplying hydroelectric power. Rivers form an invisible but vital infrastructure to every part of the European economy, and energy is no exception.

Rivers’ central role in the European energy crisis is their function as the key transport path for coal. As Europe re-embraces coal as it desperately tries to get off the Russian gas needle, demand for coal has skyrocketed. With river barges and ships forced to run at 50% capacity due to depth concerns, the coal supply crisis has become even more pressing. European governments, especially Germany, are considering a priority system, on both river and rail, for coal and food supplies. The results of this economic strategy amount to rationing, which will only impede the necessary long-term transformation of the European energy sector by introducing exogenous supply shocks into industrial inputs. Rationing and low water levels are further aggravated by an already limited supply of ships, containers, and rolling stock.

Rivers drying up directly threaten Europe’s energy security. Nuclear power is imperiled by the speed, height, and temperature of rivers. France’s Nuclear Energy regulator EFSA warned that rivers’ low levels and high temperatures were now a potent obstacle to the normal functioning of nuclear plants. Hydroelectric power is under threat because of a combination of overuse on certain river systems, a lack of stored water, and the unseasonable drought which is forcing reservoirs to release storage to prevent salination.

These European dilemmas are not unique, and they foretell problems of greater scale across the world. In Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and China the Mekong River’s overutilization and dropping levels have led to acute energy shortages as Vietnam grapples with the agonizing decision of storing water for agriculture and consumption, versus releasing it for energy. Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia confront a similar dilemma with the flow of the Nile and the controversies surrounding the Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia. In China, preparations are already underway for the vast waterways of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers to follow the fate of their European counterparts. America’s own Mississippi River recently shows the same worrying signs of drought, receding water levels, and salinization as its European counterparts.

Europe can be a leader in this crisis and positively reshape international energy consumption patterns if it has the courage to lead. Europe must use bridge sources to overcome shortages in hydroelectric power and gas supplies for power plants while waiting for long-term energy investments to bear fruit, all without weakening Russian sanctions. The best bridge fuels remain natural gas and liquified natural gas.

Europe must re-invest in its infrastructure and expand its ability to import what it cannot produce from palatable suppliers of bridge fuels, such as LNG from Sub-Saharan Africa or piped gas from Central Asia. A large-scale investment into “floatovolatics” would also be a wise move which would simultaneously increase green energy production and reduce river evaporation. Most importantly, Europe must not allow ignorance and vested interests to dissuade it from supporting the nuclear power renaissance.

Owing to climate change, this will not be the last time the world confronts drying rivers. It remains to be seen if European leaders have the vision to use this crisis as an opportunity to resolve its energy shortages and address climate change at the same time, and hopefully ensure this is the last time drying rivers create such a dire energy crisis.