As climate change makes heatwaves more frequent and more intense, demand for energy is soaring as people attempt to keep cool. At the same time, high temperatures are undermining electricity supplies, particularly from thermal plants - a type of power station in which heat energy is converted into electricity - that rely on river water for cooling.
That lazy line again:
During the heatwave between 28 June and 2 July, 17 out of France’s 18 nuclear power plants in the country faced capacity reductions, with some shut down completely.
Nuclear power plants n France have scheduled maintenance in summer (because despite what the article suggests, this is a low in power consumption)
Capacity reduction happen in that context, with extremely stringent regulations in some rivers that prevent any sort of warming of the water above some temperatures.
It does not impact the power plants that rely on water evaporation which, let’s remind it, release colder water than they take in (but in a lower volume)
Very, very true. Although at the rate French households are installing cooling capacity, that might change before long.
will my baguette still be hot?
What is Europe’s rate of growth for residential solar capacity? The Southwest US has seen daytime summer energy prices drop significantly because people use their personal solar panels to power their air conditioning. I would imagine that increasing solar capacity would help address air conditioning demand
