The Crisis of the Electricity Sector in the EU Countries: Dynamics, Driving Forces, and Prospects

S. V. Zhukov () and O. B. Reznikova
Additional contact information
S. V. Zhukov: E. M. Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences
O. B. Reznikova: E. M. Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences

Studies on Russian Economic Development, 2024, vol. 35, issue 1, 60-71

Abstract: Abstract— Most studies of the current crisis in the EU electricity sector offer a simplified approach to the interpretation of its dynamics and causes. In this article, the approach is expanded, i.e., first, the crisis in the European electricity sector is considered taking into account the long-term trends of its development. Second, the main trends in the performance of individual electricity sectors and in the context of EU member countries are analyzed in detail. This approach allowed us to draw the following fundamental conclusions: the crisis in the EU electricity sector began in 2021 and was caused by the mistakes of regulators who excessively urged the construction of generating capacities in “green” energy and decommissioning of capacities that traditionally provided basic loading in the system; the crisis of 2022 was provoked by the unreliability of nuclear generation due to the obsolescence of reactors, as well as the failure of hydropower due to long-term climate change. The exogenous shock generated by the geopolitical crisis in and around Ukraine became an important factor in the outbreak of a protracted crisis in the European electricity sector. The European Commission and some major European countries proposed to accelerate the construction of generating capacities in solar and wind energy to overcome the crisis, while shifting the costs of the energy transition, the price of which has noticeably increased, to end consumers of electricity. There is a representative group of countries in the EU whose national climate strategies are based, among other things, on promoting nuclear energy, which requires the development of the capacity market; in general, energy prices in the EU soared and further development of “green” energy will by all means push electricity prices up.

Keywords: electricity sector; crisis; new renewable energy sources; generating capacities; electricity market structure; capacity market; energy transition price; European Union (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1134/S1075700724010180 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sorede:v:35:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1134_s1075700724010180

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... nomics/journal/11507

DOI: 10.1134/S1075700724010180

Access Statistics for this article

Studies on Russian Economic Development is currently edited by Viktor V. Ivanter, Dmitrii B. Kuvalin and Galina A. Yaremenko

More articles in Studies on Russian Economic Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().