The Record: Can Europe keep the lights on this winter?

Europe may struggle to keep the lights on as temperatures drop and the switch to greener sources of energy complicates the balance between supply and demand in the region.

The inconvenience of brownouts, though, should have the welcome effect of forcing governments to address their attitudes toward both nuclear power and fracking for shale gas.

About seven per cent of the world's population lives in Europe, yet regional spending of $625 billion US on renewable energy investment between 2004 and 2013 accounts for half of total global spending on wind farms, solar installations and the like. Renewable sources now provide more than 14 per cent of the Europe's energy, up from 8.3 per cent in 2004, according to a report published this week by consulting firm Cap Gemini.

The bigger the contribution from renewables, though, the more difficult it is to manage power-transmission grids. And that shift to greener energy coincides with disruptions in a host of Europe's more traditional power-generation methods.
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