World power grids fail due to abnormal heat wave

The modernization of energy infrastructure is not keeping pace, although efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels make electricity distribution more critical.

Triggered by a sharp increase in consumption and supply instability, a blackout in Montenegro at the end of June knocked out networks in neighboring countries and caused chaos in households, hospitals, and beach bars. This incident in the Balkans has been mirrored across the globe.

Millions of homes in Houston, Texas, were affected by power outages after Hurricane Beryl last week, losing air conditioning just as sweltering heat followed the hurricane. Network disruptions from Ecuador to India, which have impacted both developing and developed economies in recent weeks, are harbingers of future turmoil.

The climate crisis exposes electrical grids to the danger of sudden floods that knock down power lines, droughts that dry up reservoirs, and surges in demand for cooling during extreme heat.

According to BloombergNEF, expanding the power system will cost approximately $24.1 trillion to achieve the net-zero goal by 2050, which exceeds investments in renewable energy sources. The US and China, which occupy vast territories and consume a lot of energy, will face the largest bills, but no country will be spared.

Outages most often occur during the sudden connection or disconnection of large volumes of demand or supply. Damage from hurricanes, spikes in renewable energy production, or sharp increases in consumption can all lead to outages if the grid is not resilient enough.

Climate change increases the vulnerability not only of developing economies. Recently, problems have also affected middle-income countries, including energy-rich Mexico and Kuwait, as well as importers like Albania.

In June, in the northern Mexican city of Chihuahua, electricity was cut off for water pumps, leading to a two-week water supply disruption for more than 70,000 people.

Overall, heat has caused power outages in 21 states in Mexico, temporarily halting production even at Volkswagen AG's plant in Puebla for four hours.

Additionally, heat caused power outages in four Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina and much of the Croatian coast in June, affecting 4 million people. Consumption spiked as temperatures hovered around 40 degrees Celsius, causing one system after another to fail.

Heat in Ukraine and world

For over a week, Ukraine has been experiencing abnormal heat. On July 11, Kyiv broke three temperature records, the first maximums of this summer.

However, Ukraine is not the only one experiencing this temperature anomaly. According to the Greek weather and climate portal Climatebook, a powerful and prolonged heatwave has engulfed Eastern Europe and the Balkans.