Bloomberg reports:
Waterways warmed by climate change will increase electricity prices by as much as a third in southern Europe as producers struggle to cool power stations, a study showed.
Countries from Romania to Bulgaria and Slovenia face the biggest price increases, according to research today from the Laxenburg, Austria-based Institute for International Applied Systems Analysis. Dutch, German and Spanish scientists participated in the study.
“The combination of increased water temperatures and reduced summer river flow under climate change is likely to affect both hydropower and thermoelectric power generating capacity in Europe,” wrote the authors, led by Michelle van Vliet, whose research focuses on how warming climate will affect world river flows.
Sounds like some state owned power companies are preparing to raise their rates even higher and need some cover.
Increased temperatures equal lower evaporation rates and reduced rainfalls. That’s an amazing theory considering that most of this planet is covered with water. Warm air holds more water than cool air… There’s lots of precipitation in the tropics. Antarctica is extremely dry.
As for thermal power plants being limited by river flows, I would hope the Europeans will some day learn how to use cooling towers. It’s silly to build a nuclear or coal plant that’s dependent on good river flow rates to keep it running at peak capacity. Weather varies. Deal with it.
Has there been any marked change in temperatures of water bodies or in precipitation in the relevant watersheds? Long-run changes that fall outside the normal annual variability of hydrology?
This sounds like a model speculation that has been portrayed as a confident prediction.