Speaking at the yearly convention of the SME organization Confartigianato, Italian Minister for Economic Development Giancarlo Giorgetti called for action in order to avoid a European-wide blackout. “A blackout at the European level cannot be excluded,” Giorgetti said, “due to the current situation of energy supplies. It is important to stabilize in the fairest way possible the impact of energy bills on households and companies. This, added to the need to define a plan to avoid even worse things at the European level.” It is therefore necessary, Giorgetti said, “to avoid the risk of going into a blackout.”
Prices of all European electricity markets rose in the fourth week of November, and the weekly average went above €200/MWh in most of them. This was the highest price in history in almost all markets. REVE, a Spanish wind energy site, admits that gas and CO2 prices are responsible.
“There are several factors that led to the increases, despite the fact that wind energy production increased in most markets: increased demand due to the drop in temperatures, lower nuclear energy contribution in some countries and high gas and CO2 prices, the latter registering records.”
