Europe’s Renewable Reliance Tested by Low Wind Speeds and Price Surge

Europe has made huge progress in boosting its renewable energy capacity in recent years. For the first time ever, wind and solar power generation topped the share of electricity provided by fossil fuels in the first half of 2024. Yet, this week, hourly power prices for the peak demand morning and evening hours soared to the highest level since the height of the energy crisis in the autumn of 2022. The reason was quite simple and unpredictable—very low wind speeds in northwest Europe which resulted in slumping wind power generation. To meet…