Coal power has rebounded in Europe

Coal generation has risen by 30 per cent compared with 2020 as the war in Ukraine hits energy supplies.

Photo by Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

This year Europe has been hit by a perfect storm of energy supply problems. Russia squeezed gas supplies following its invasion of Ukraine, so that by September, the EU was paying the same amount for 75 per cent less gas.

Then Europe’s worst drought on record led to hydropower generation falling by around 20 per cent. And problems at French nuclear plants – which at one point meant that half of the country’s nuclear reactors had been taken offline – led to nuclear power generation falling by around 15 per cent.