Record high gas prices exacerbate pre-winter energy shortages in the Northern Hemisphere, leading to power shortages in parts of the world.
Anne-Sophie Corbeau, an energy policy researcher at Columbia University, believes that the current the energy crisis could affect renewable energies and the broader "energy transition" in several ways.
- One side, developing countries considering switching from coal to natural gas to support higher penetration of renewable energy sources may be deterred by higher prices for gas.
- On the other side, an energy crisis could prove once and for all that natural gas is losing its role as a transition fuel and that the time has come to rapidly improve the sustainability and reliability of renewable energies and batteries.
"In a commentary on the energy crisis, Kolb writes:
"Ensuring that energy, including natural gas, remains inexpensive and affordable during energy transition could be a key challenge for policymakers (at the UN climate summit COP26) ".
“As countries strive to decarbonize their energy systems and the demand for each fossil fuel eventually peaks, policymakers the world is wondering how to avoid significant imbalances between supply and demand, how to develop a set of regulatory instruments to minimize the risk of price surges, how to ensure that there are no power shortages, and how to plan ahead to make future energy systems resilient to climate change. "
Corbeau added that governments need to anticipate the risk of more frequent extreme weather events and their impact on variable renewable energy systems.
The US Energy Information Administration expects US natural gas prices to remain high between October and March - the highest winter prices since 2007-08 (see chart below).
The EIA predicts that LNG prices will start falling in 2022. in the first quarter.
Michael Webb, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, says higher natural gas prices tend to stimulate renewable energy use.
"But it also encourages the use of coal, which is a problem," says Michael Webb.
“High gas prices tend to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy sources, so I I think that wind and solar panel manufacturers are happy with what is happening now, frankly speaking. "
P.S. As you can see, Europe and the United States want to use the period of high gas prices to try to spur green energy companies to introduce their innovations faster. In general, all of them are haunted by Russian gas and are trying to get rid of it as soon as possible. Will it work?
What do you think about this? Write your opinions in the comments.