Why is that?
ENER Europe Plans "Emergency Intervention" In Power Market As All Hell Breaks Loose
- Thread starter Blacknarwhal
- Start date
blueinterceptor
Veteran Member
because there are still democrats running and winning election and rcp only has republicans up by 4% in the generic polls. If the republicans were up 20% then you’d have a tsunami.
some people like their perks. Ebt, free cell phones, Sect 8, subsidized everything
uncontrolled murder of the unborn. Legalized drugs
If it weren’t for the bribery of the stupid, lazy and morally bankrupt, the dems couldn’t exist.
I talked to a friend today who still has family in Germany. She said they are all scrambling to get solar panels, but of course there’s a shortage of them. They’re very worried.
Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Actually the democrats have pre-empted Captain William Lynch's teachings in getting a group to trust no one but their manner and even not trust fellows from their own group.
I call it remnants of Jim Crow. It is what some identify as the, "systemic racism," but it is not that really. It is a means of enslavement to their freebie masters as long as they do not leave the plantation that is the group in power...
They say this and that and protest, but it is all misdirection, objuscation, and lies built upon lies on a hookwinked audience. The good idea is there but the application and what is asked is soo backwards they backfire when implementing kicking the problem down to the next generation...
The Germans send weapons, ammo, and other support to Ukraine and then the Germans are all surprised and stuff that the Russians are acting a little prickly.
How does one say "Duh" in German?
Fair Use Cited
-----------------
Siemens Energy: engine oil leak no reason to stop Nord Stream turbine
Reuters
September 2, 2022
2:40 PM CDT
Last Updated a day ago
FRANKFURT, Sept 2 (Reuters) - An engine oil leak Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said has been found at the last remaining turbine in operation at the Portovaya compressor station does not constitute a technical reason for stopping operation, Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE) said on Friday.
"Such leaks do not normally affect the operation of a turbine and can be sealed on site. It is a routine procedure within the scope of maintenance work," the company said.
Gazprom had earlier said that the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is filled by Portovaya, would remain shut for the time being, effectively extending an outage that was supposed to end at 0100 GMT, Sept 3.
"In the past, too, the occurrence of this type of leak has not led to a shutdown of operations. Siemens Energy is not currently contracted to carry out maintenance work, but is on standby," the company said.
"Irrespective of this, we have already pointed out several times that there are sufficient other turbines available at the Portovaya compressor station for Nord Stream 1 to operate," Siemens Energy said.
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/BRUGFKVCVZLK3EZTR3J7O2II4M.jpg)
www.reuters.com
How does one say "Duh" in German?
Fair Use Cited
-----------------
Siemens Energy: engine oil leak no reason to stop Nord Stream turbine
Reuters
September 2, 2022
2:40 PM CDT
Last Updated a day ago
FRANKFURT, Sept 2 (Reuters) - An engine oil leak Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said has been found at the last remaining turbine in operation at the Portovaya compressor station does not constitute a technical reason for stopping operation, Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE) said on Friday.
"Such leaks do not normally affect the operation of a turbine and can be sealed on site. It is a routine procedure within the scope of maintenance work," the company said.
Gazprom had earlier said that the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is filled by Portovaya, would remain shut for the time being, effectively extending an outage that was supposed to end at 0100 GMT, Sept 3.
"In the past, too, the occurrence of this type of leak has not led to a shutdown of operations. Siemens Energy is not currently contracted to carry out maintenance work, but is on standby," the company said.
"Irrespective of this, we have already pointed out several times that there are sufficient other turbines available at the Portovaya compressor station for Nord Stream 1 to operate," Siemens Energy said.
Siemens Energy: engine oil leak no reason to stop Nord Stream turbine
An engine oil leak Gazprom said has been found at the last remaining turbine in operation at the Portovaya compressor station does not constitute a technical reason for stopping operation, Siemens Energy said on Friday.
Border Guns
Veteran Member
I didn't read all the comments so I may have missed it. I did not see any word about the China thread where China was buying the Russian gas and turning around to sell it to Europeans for triple or more in price. Making out like true robbers.
bracketquant
Veteran Member
The Free Sh*t Army is much larger than most realize.
Good point!
Samuel Adams
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I wonder what it’s gunna look like when “all hell” really does “break loose”.
blueinterceptor
Veteran Member
now it’s going grow from dead beat art history majors with 200k in college debt
bw
Fringe Ranger
I don't remember Germany being all sunny in the winter. Gotta do what they can.
Old Gray Mare
TB Fanatic
According to the video 32 reactors coming back on line to keep France warm this winter. The government has asked for a 10% reduction in gas use. The hope is to avoid "potential" rationing and rolling black outs for households.
Fair use.
FRANCE 24 English
France’s minister for energy transition said on September 2 that French electricity giant EDF has committed to restart all its nuclear reactors by this winter to help the country through the broad energy crisis aggravated by the war in Ukraine.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7BlzKHfxPk
run time 4:55
Fair use.
France to restart all nuclear reactors by winter amid energy crunch • FRANCE 24 English
Sep 2, 2022FRANCE 24 English
France’s minister for energy transition said on September 2 that French electricity giant EDF has committed to restart all its nuclear reactors by this winter to help the country through the broad energy crisis aggravated by the war in Ukraine.
run time 4:55
really . . . most people's vision of hell is optimistic.
Exactly!
greysage
On The Level
I wunder what the income and bank account balance threshold is for putting solar panels out of reach for Germans, and Europeans as well.
Doc1
Has No Life - Lives on TB
There's a bit of a learning curve to do solar right and, also, there's a lot more to it than just buying solar panels. Large solar systems require special wiring, expensive batteries and charge controllers.
Lastly, one will need a fairly huge (and very expensive) system to use any sort of effective electrical heating. These days a basic, small solar system to run LED lights and maybe a computer can be put together fairly inexpensively. Electrical resistance heating on the other hand is a real power hog.
The Petromax multi-fuel lanterns - which were a German invention - and other similar pressurized kero lanterns can put out tremendous amounts of heat and are reasonably safe to use indoors as long as gasoline isn't used as the fuel. If the lanterns are operated with kerosene or diesel, they produce relatively little carbon monoxide (of course one should use a CO detector).
I still keep several Petromaxes here at the Doc1 Homestead for emergency heating.
Best
Doc
I'm sure the power issues for Europe are described in the media in order to provide the most support for Ukraine.
The problem is probably not as dire as the power outage that occurred in Texas in 2021.
Everything is fine.
If the average European citizen really wanted to revolt, they would increase their energy consumption rather than conserve.
The problem is probably not as dire as the power outage that occurred in Texas in 2021.
Everything is fine.
If the average European citizen really wanted to revolt, they would increase their energy consumption rather than conserve.
vector7
Dot Collector
PRAGUE - Wenceslas Square 70,000 citizens demand the Government resign for working against the people and lower gas and electricity.
Winter is coming.
RT 06secs
View: https://twitter.com/BernieSpofforth/status/1566128172172820481?t=BDKQilcH11Vi6Ftnb0aDCA&s=19
BREAKING: Massive demonstration in Prague in the Czech Republic against the government, soaring prices and the energy crisis.
Protesters threaten strike and coercive action if government doesn't resign by September 25
RT 20secs
View: https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1566154061623312385?t=6WvN30P9TK4Vqs-nlFLX3w&s=19
Winter is coming.
RT 06secs
View: https://twitter.com/BernieSpofforth/status/1566128172172820481?t=BDKQilcH11Vi6Ftnb0aDCA&s=19
BREAKING: Massive demonstration in Prague in the Czech Republic against the government, soaring prices and the energy crisis.
Protesters threaten strike and coercive action if government doesn't resign by September 25
RT 20secs
View: https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1566154061623312385?t=6WvN30P9TK4Vqs-nlFLX3w&s=19
Last edited:
Samuel Adams
Has No Life - Lives on TB
The world that has lived under servitude for stacked millennia revolts with abandon while “we” whose nation was founded in rebellion to tyranny lie flat on “our” backs, hoping it will all just go away.
Can’t make this stuff up.
Can’t make this stuff up.
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
True.
IN general and IN normal times the northern part of Germany is mostly rainy. Cloudy, rainy let's sit by the fire and stay warm, and dry, type of weather.
In the Southern portion it' mostly snow, and lots and lots of snow. Let's stay in and sit by the fire and stay warm. Cousin was a professor at a University in Bavaria, a southern state, and would ski to work, in the winter.
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Sweden, Austria Start Bailing Out Energy Companies Triggering Europe's "Minsky Moment"
Last weekend, Credit Suisse repo guru published what may have been the most insightful snippet of the entire European energy crisis (to date) when he extended the infamous "Minsky Moment" framework to Europe, and specifically Germany, which he said "can’t cover its payments without Russian gas and the government is asking citizens to conserve energy to leave more for industry." He then elaborated that "Minsky moments are triggered by excessive financial leverage, and in the context of supply chains, leverage means excessive operating leverage: in Germany, $2 trillion of value added depends on $20 billion of gas from Russia… …that’s 100-times leverage – much more than Lehman’s." (Zoltan's entire note is a must read for everyone with a passing interest in what comes next).
But while Germany still pretends it can somehow avoid a devastating crisis this winter besides bailing out Uniper, one of the country’s biggest utilities (after all, admission would make Trump's 2018 warning accurate and prescient, and everyone knows that according to Western intellectual snobs Trump can't possibly ever be correct), other European nations are succumbing to what Zoltan dubbed a "supply-chain Minsky moment."
On Wednesday it was Austria, which announced it would bail out the country's main energy supplier with a two-billion-euro ($2 billion) loan, the AFP reported. Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the loan to Wien Energie was an "extraordinary rescue measure" to ensure its two million customers - mainly Vienna households - continue to receive electricity. It will run until next April.
Wien Energie asked for a bailout this weekend after suffering financial trouble amid soaring energy prices and speculation the company mismanaged their funds. Nehammer said Wien Energie, which is owned by Vienna, would have to answer questions as to how they got into trouble.
"The goal was to help people quickly... It has now been agreed that all of these questions, which are rightly raised, must be answered promptly by Vienna (and) the energy supplier," he told reporters.
The company - almost entirely dependent on Russian gas - said earlier this week that it had been hit by the "price explosion" which it has not yet passed on to customers, assuring it remained solvent. As part of its rescue, the company is expected to pass through soaring costs, which means a historic price shock is coming to Austria next... and soon Sweden.
Following in Austria's footsteps, on Saturday morning Sweden announced it will give emergency liquidity support to electricity producers after the government said it feared Russia’s decision to halt gas deliveries to Europe could place its financial system under severe strain.
Prime minister Magdalena Andersson said the government would offer hundreds of billions of kroner in support to electricity producers, the FT reported. The PM warned that, left unchecked, rising collateral demands for electricity producers could ripple through the main Nasdaq Clearing market in Stockholm and, in the worst case, spark a financial crisis.... just as Zoltan warned almost half a year ago.
Her remarks came after Russia said on Friday evening that it would no longer supply gas via the Nordstream 1 pipeline. That announcement came after energy markets had closed for the weekend.
“Yesterday’s announcement not only risks leading to a ‘war winter’ but also threatens our financial stability,” Andersson said, standing alongside Sweden’s financial regulator, central bank governor and finance minister at an emergency press conference on Saturday.
Sweden’s dramatic action underscored the seriousness of the situation facing Europe as it scrambles to secure enough energy ahead of the winter and tries to avoid the spread of distress among electricity producers.
As we reported previously, Germany already bailed out one of the country’s biggest utilities, Uniper, and its majority shareholder, Finnish energy group Fortum, in turn asked the government in Helsinki for support. Fortum warned on Monday that its collateral requirements had risen by €1bn to €5bn in the previous week, and that a default by a smaller player would cause “severe disturbances to the Nordic power system”.
Andersson said the support would apply to all Nordic and Baltic players, and would need approval by the Swedish parliament’s finance committee on Monday. Even the country's central bank was forced to chime in: "We need to isolate this in one market so it doesn’t infect the financial sector,” said Stefan Ingves, governor of the Riksbank.
While Swedish authorities said they saw no immediate risk to financial stability (translation: financial stability is on the verge of collapse), but were worried that otherwise-solvent companies could struggle to find enough liquidity, causing potential ripple effects. “Russia is waging an energy war against Europe to divide us. But we will not let Putin succeed,” Andersson said.
Andersson’s comments come a week before parliamentary elections in Sweden with polls pointing to a surge in the anti-Immigrant, Eurosceptic Sweden Democrats, who are set to become the nation's 2nd largest party. She said her centre-left government stood ready to act, just as it did over the Covid-19 pandemic, but it's unclear if she will even get the votes to be in majority.
Erik Thedéen, head of Sweden’s Financial Supervisory Authority, said power prices in Sweden had risen 11-fold in the past year, leading to a jump in collateral demands. He added that without liquidity support electricity producers could face bankruptcies and large losses that could lead to the collapse of the clearing house. “It is under very severe stress,” he said.
In hopes of easing Eurpope's "Minsky Moment" energy crisis, last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday the bloc was preparing to take "emergency" action to reform the electricity market and bring prices under control. Also, on Friday, G7 members unanimously decided to impose price caps on Russian oil imports (an absolutely idiotic scheme as explained yesterday, and one which will send oil prices sharply higher). In response, Russia shocked markets when, late on Friday, it said that the previously scheduled resumption of natgas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline won't happen due to an "accidental" oil leak. This ensures that European nat gas and power prices are set to hit new all time highs come Monday.
Sweden, Austria Start Bailing Out Energy Companies Triggering Europe's "Minsky Moment" | ZeroHedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
Just a reminder:
Governments of every country produces nothing.
To be able to subsidize, (socialism) these electricity companies, there is probably only two ways. Sell bonds, on which the government must pay interest, or raise taxes. Try paying interest on 30 Trillion dollars. It's what our government is doing. Our government doesn't print money. The Fed does, and our government buys those dollars, through the sale of bonds, on which they pay interest, and the FED buys those bonds.
People look to the government to help them by bring down prices. The government does that by either nationalizing the product and raising taxes or bonds. Or by subsidizing the product, and raising taxes or bonds.
Austria and Sweden, by subsidizing (bailing out) can bring down prices in the short run, in the long run, it's going to come back and bit the citizen, in the form of .........taxes, instead of electricity bills.
Everyone here should consider being self sufficient on shelter, heat/cooking and food/water. Because what if this comes here. Electricity or food. Food or electricity.
Two years in Germany.
Seems like we wouldn't see the sun for weeks at a time, in winter.
bw
Fringe Ranger
Ok, this is not my area of expertise. But it sounds awfully much like the governments of Europe are giving money to their utilities, so the utilities can bid against each other for the fuel that won't be available. Does that sound right?
bw
Fringe Ranger
Two and a half years in Heidelberg, the winter getaway used by royalty because its weather was so good. It was a cold soggy cloudy mess, but unimaginably better than Minnesota where I grew up.
colonel holman
Veteran Member
THIS is how Russia will win their war.
EU/NATO will fold like a cheap suit, crushing US efforts
Uke will be totally shut off and shut down by January.
EU/NATO will fold like a cheap suit, crushing US efforts
Uke will be totally shut off and shut down by January.
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I didn't quite catch everything in the article, (namely the Minsk thingy) focused mostly on subsidizing the energy.
Which I would assume, gives the power companies the ability to bid on available fuel, minus Russia, which created a shortage, thus higher prices.
Like purchasing LNG from the US or China (repackaged Russian). Which goes to the highest bidder. So now the power companies can bid on any LNG and pay the higher prices without passing it on the consumer. The government comes and pays the difference.
So like what you said seems to be true.
Melodi
Disaster Cat
I think under normal circumstances a good argument could be made for letting "the market" ride things out without taxpayer help but things are moving way too fast for that to work very well in this case.
Because of the situation, the wholesale price of gas and therefore electricity in most places in Europe is going up unimaginably high and shockingly fast. Not only will individual households simply not be able to pay their personal energy bills (especially if they continue to rise and may become more than a household's monthly income) but important industries like steel manufacturing and others are already shutting their plants down. They can't afford to keep them open, and that is much worse in terms of keeping civilization going than even the 70 percent of small businesses that may close their doors in the next three to five months.
That will put the majority of people on the street, with no income except the dole (as long as it lasts), with almost no factories running, and basically, the world just shuts down. All because the price of gas is now so astronomically high that no one can pay for it. Because there are other markets, it probably won't come down either.
The situation is really even more complicated than that, as I mentioned before with the "private" providers all just either declaring bankruptcy, leaving the market or saying they will leave the market without a "bailout" (aka taxpayer support/partial nationalization).
In the very short term, to try to survive this Winter, I don't see many other ways forward other than Europe caving and going on its knees begging Russia to let them buy gas in Rubles. I can't see that happening right now, and it is also possible that Putin might just laugh at them at this point, after all, he's finding other markets to sell to.
Finally, all politics is local, for example, what Sweden is doing (partly anyway) is telling the EU that their "mandatory" forcing of every EU country to price electricity based on the price of gas (because Germany and other countries get their electrical power via gas) is a dead letter going forward. Sweden has nuclear power, I don't know if it has enough to make all of its electricity but it sure doesn't rely on gas for all of it. So they are saying they won't charge their population's power bills based on the insane price of gas when they are not using it to generate their power.
Lots of complicated stuff going on here...
Because of the situation, the wholesale price of gas and therefore electricity in most places in Europe is going up unimaginably high and shockingly fast. Not only will individual households simply not be able to pay their personal energy bills (especially if they continue to rise and may become more than a household's monthly income) but important industries like steel manufacturing and others are already shutting their plants down. They can't afford to keep them open, and that is much worse in terms of keeping civilization going than even the 70 percent of small businesses that may close their doors in the next three to five months.
That will put the majority of people on the street, with no income except the dole (as long as it lasts), with almost no factories running, and basically, the world just shuts down. All because the price of gas is now so astronomically high that no one can pay for it. Because there are other markets, it probably won't come down either.
The situation is really even more complicated than that, as I mentioned before with the "private" providers all just either declaring bankruptcy, leaving the market or saying they will leave the market without a "bailout" (aka taxpayer support/partial nationalization).
In the very short term, to try to survive this Winter, I don't see many other ways forward other than Europe caving and going on its knees begging Russia to let them buy gas in Rubles. I can't see that happening right now, and it is also possible that Putin might just laugh at them at this point, after all, he's finding other markets to sell to.
Finally, all politics is local, for example, what Sweden is doing (partly anyway) is telling the EU that their "mandatory" forcing of every EU country to price electricity based on the price of gas (because Germany and other countries get their electrical power via gas) is a dead letter going forward. Sweden has nuclear power, I don't know if it has enough to make all of its electricity but it sure doesn't rely on gas for all of it. So they are saying they won't charge their population's power bills based on the insane price of gas when they are not using it to generate their power.
Lots of complicated stuff going on here...
Blacknarwhal
Let's Go Brandon!
....aaaaand it got worse!
Fair use cited so on and so forth.
www.zerohedge.com
by Tyler Durden
Sunday, Sep 04, 2022 - 07:43 PM
Just when you thought the narrative couldn't get any more idiotic, Europe shocks just about everyone.
A few days after the EU threatened commodity traders it would stage an "emergency intervention" to crush energy prices which were rising at a pace of about 20% per day (perhaps Europe can now print nat gas and electricity in addition to monetizing all deficits while injecting trillions in the process)...
View: https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1564241176630280193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1564241176630280193%7Ctwgr%5E67d85d1733742d7291dfa566b8fe14e0c9fa0719%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Feurope-implodes-its-leaders-plan-radical-intervention-including-price-setting-suspending
... a move which actually worked for a few days until Putin reminded Europe who's boss late on Friday when Gazprom suddenly decided it would "completely halt" all Nord Stream 1 transit altogether due to an "oil leak", with the news sending global stock markets plunging and threatening to push European gas and power prices back to all time highs when markets reopen on Monday as well as forcing Sweden to follow Austria and Germany in bailing out energy companies as Nordic authorities warned of a “Lehman” moment risk, late on Sunday Bloomberg reported that European ministers will discuss "special measures to rein in soaring energy costs - from gas-price caps to a suspension of power derivatives trading - as the bloc scrambles to respond to latest developments in the deepening crisis." A draft document seen by Bloomberg News notes that the Czech Republic, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, is set to include those tools on a list of emergency intervention options to be discussed at a meeting of energy ministers on Friday.
While anything it does is doomed to fail, Europe has been scrambling to stave off an energy catastrophe that’s threatening to become an economic, social, and even financial crisis too.
European leaders have been working for months to try to offset the impact of Russia’s squeeze on gas -- a move they describe as the weaponization of energy. But the decision late Friday by Gazprom PJSC to keep the crucial Nord Stream pipeline shut brought on a new sense of panic.
In response to soaring energy prices and rationing of firewood, over the weekend, Germany - the country most affected by the Nord Stream cutoff - unveiled a $65 billion package meant to boost demand and to protect consumers, with a levy on windfall profits, in effect completely undoing the ECB's efforts to squash demand by hiking interest rates and ending QE, similar to what the Biden admin is doing to the Fed in the US.
View: https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1563198749802803201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1563198749802803201%7Ctwgr%5E67d85d1733742d7291dfa566b8fe14e0c9fa0719%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Feurope-implodes-its-leaders-plan-radical-intervention-including-price-setting-suspending
At the same time, thousands of Czechs protesting in the streets this weekend served as a reminder of the social and political risks.
“It is clear that the upcoming heating season will test the resilience of the EU energy market,” the Czech presidency plans to tell member states, according to the draft document for the emergency meeting. “It is critical to take stock of market developments and identify possible measures to address high electricity prices driven by high gas prices.”
So what can Europe do? Nothing really, but it will pretend to be in control until the bitter end. The options the Czech presidency is set to suggest - according to Bloomberg - would complement measures floated by the European Commission in a policy note seen by Bloomberg last week. They included a power-demand reduction and price caps on renewables, nuclear and coal, all of which are of course dead-ends. The presidency is poised to propose similar "solutions" in the power sector and float the following additional tools:
To limit the impact of gas prices on power prices:
It gets better: to increase liquidity in the energy market, where virtually nobody trades any more since there is simply no physical with which to hedge financial positions, Europe will propose:
The Czech presidency is also set to suggest an even more humiliating and laughable assessment of how the EU could use its "carbon market" to address high electricity prices and ensure a quick deal on a commission proposal earlier this year to sell some permits withdrawn from the market and kept in a special reserve. Such sales - Bloomberg reports - "would boost supply of emission permits, helping lower their prices." Spoiler alert: they won't do jack shit.
And in typical European word goulash style, the most hilarious idiocy was as usual saved for last: here it is from Bloomberg.
And while Europe's increasingly cartoonish leaders live in a Never Never land where they sacrifice their populations to freeze so they can continue their pro-Ukraine virtue signaling, here is Goldman explaining why Putin's response will lead to a "significant rally" in nat gas prices (full note here for pro subs).
Fair use cited so on and so forth.
As Europe Implodes, It Plans "Radical Intervention" Including Price-Setting, Suspending Derivatives Markets And Europe-Wide Margin Call Bailouts | ZeroHedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
As Europe Implodes, It Plans "Radical Intervention" Including Price-Setting, Suspending Derivatives Markets And Europe-Wide Margin Call Bailouts
by Tyler Durden
Sunday, Sep 04, 2022 - 07:43 PM
Just when you thought the narrative couldn't get any more idiotic, Europe shocks just about everyone.
A few days after the EU threatened commodity traders it would stage an "emergency intervention" to crush energy prices which were rising at a pace of about 20% per day (perhaps Europe can now print nat gas and electricity in addition to monetizing all deficits while injecting trillions in the process)...
View: https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1564241176630280193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1564241176630280193%7Ctwgr%5E67d85d1733742d7291dfa566b8fe14e0c9fa0719%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Feurope-implodes-its-leaders-plan-radical-intervention-including-price-setting-suspending
... a move which actually worked for a few days until Putin reminded Europe who's boss late on Friday when Gazprom suddenly decided it would "completely halt" all Nord Stream 1 transit altogether due to an "oil leak", with the news sending global stock markets plunging and threatening to push European gas and power prices back to all time highs when markets reopen on Monday as well as forcing Sweden to follow Austria and Germany in bailing out energy companies as Nordic authorities warned of a “Lehman” moment risk, late on Sunday Bloomberg reported that European ministers will discuss "special measures to rein in soaring energy costs - from gas-price caps to a suspension of power derivatives trading - as the bloc scrambles to respond to latest developments in the deepening crisis." A draft document seen by Bloomberg News notes that the Czech Republic, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, is set to include those tools on a list of emergency intervention options to be discussed at a meeting of energy ministers on Friday.
While anything it does is doomed to fail, Europe has been scrambling to stave off an energy catastrophe that’s threatening to become an economic, social, and even financial crisis too.
European leaders have been working for months to try to offset the impact of Russia’s squeeze on gas -- a move they describe as the weaponization of energy. But the decision late Friday by Gazprom PJSC to keep the crucial Nord Stream pipeline shut brought on a new sense of panic.
In response to soaring energy prices and rationing of firewood, over the weekend, Germany - the country most affected by the Nord Stream cutoff - unveiled a $65 billion package meant to boost demand and to protect consumers, with a levy on windfall profits, in effect completely undoing the ECB's efforts to squash demand by hiking interest rates and ending QE, similar to what the Biden admin is doing to the Fed in the US.
View: https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1563198749802803201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1563198749802803201%7Ctwgr%5E67d85d1733742d7291dfa566b8fe14e0c9fa0719%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Feurope-implodes-its-leaders-plan-radical-intervention-including-price-setting-suspending
At the same time, thousands of Czechs protesting in the streets this weekend served as a reminder of the social and political risks.
“It is clear that the upcoming heating season will test the resilience of the EU energy market,” the Czech presidency plans to tell member states, according to the draft document for the emergency meeting. “It is critical to take stock of market developments and identify possible measures to address high electricity prices driven by high gas prices.”
So what can Europe do? Nothing really, but it will pretend to be in control until the bitter end. The options the Czech presidency is set to suggest - according to Bloomberg - would complement measures floated by the European Commission in a policy note seen by Bloomberg last week. They included a power-demand reduction and price caps on renewables, nuclear and coal, all of which are of course dead-ends. The presidency is poised to propose similar "solutions" in the power sector and float the following additional tools:
To limit the impact of gas prices on power prices:
- temporarily capping the price of gas used for electricity generation
- putting a price ceiling on gas imported from Russia
- temporary exclusion of power production from gas from merit order and price setting on the electricity market could also be an option
It gets better: to increase liquidity in the energy market, where virtually nobody trades any more since there is simply no physical with which to hedge financial positions, Europe will propose:
- an urgent Europe-wide credit line support for market participants faced with very high margin calls
- capping the limits for margining or automatic price ceiling adjustment
- temporary suspensions of European power derivatives markets.
The Czech presidency is also set to suggest an even more humiliating and laughable assessment of how the EU could use its "carbon market" to address high electricity prices and ensure a quick deal on a commission proposal earlier this year to sell some permits withdrawn from the market and kept in a special reserve. Such sales - Bloomberg reports - "would boost supply of emission permits, helping lower their prices." Spoiler alert: they won't do jack shit.
And in typical European word goulash style, the most hilarious idiocy was as usual saved for last: here it is from Bloomberg.
Yup "simple to implement", and this is where laughter breaks out. Why? Because as even Goldman said on Friday, nothing Europe does will lead to lower prices and if anything will send prices much higher. First, we excerpt from Goldman's Damien Couravlin who explains - once again - why Europe's "brilliant" plans always works in theory and collapse in practice (full note available to pro subs):
And while Europe's increasingly cartoonish leaders live in a Never Never land where they sacrifice their populations to freeze so they can continue their pro-Ukraine virtue signaling, here is Goldman explaining why Putin's response will lead to a "significant rally" in nat gas prices (full note here for pro subs).
Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
"That will put the majority of people on the street, with no income except the dole (as long as it lasts), with almost no factories running, and basically, the world just shuts down. All because the price of gas is now so astronomically high that no one can pay for it."
Which--given the fact that there is PLENTY of fossil fuels still for many, many years---
makes this whole thing patently ridiculous.
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Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
colonel holman
Veteran Member
As the West collapses, Russia becomes the only one left with boundless energy wealth and plenty of remaining military capability. Almost as if this was how Putin planned it
Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
Wouldn't it be "interesting" now, if Israel suddenly ups and saves the day for Europe, with her new huge natural gas discovery in the Mediterranean...
I heard that they got permission again to run their gas line to Europe (Biden blocked it for a while but that's removed now, I hear).
And wouldn't THAT set up some interesting situations?.............
bw
Fringe Ranger
I have no expertise in gas pipeline construction, but I don't feel complacent about this winter just because there might be fuel two winters from now.
Melodi
Disaster Cat
What BW said, one reason my housemate and I are being so careful is honestly we are more concerned about next Winter than this Winter if something doesn't change (which it could).
She's an engineer working with Water Treatment Plants (so she knows regulations) and she said normally it takes 15 years to build a new nuclear power plant. Even if by some miracle a government could declare an "emergency" and stop all appeals and most surveys, it would still physically take five years to build.
So far, only the United Kingdom seems serious about that one and that could change with the change of Prime Ministers this afternoon, we just don't know.
I used to be totally opposed to nuclear power but I've come to accept that modern plants when built correctly, may be the only way forward for the next few years. While planning for the combination of newer technologies, including improved nuclear production which can be done on a much smaller scale (fusion has now been managed in labs but that is likely at least a decade or two down the road without another breakthrough.
Also, the ignoring systems we know could work but take courage to look at what has to be done - for example, Ireland might be able to get a huge portion of its energy from tidal power which has been used here since the 10th century to power mills. There are working models that show that the island of Ireland (among other places) has the perfect ocean and tidal setup for doing this, also the tides themselves make the energy storage problem (the dirty little secret of why almost no "renewable energy" works all the time) easier to keep the batteries full.
It isn't perfect, no system is, but I don't see anyone seriously talking about building this or even the funding for a larger working model just off the coast to show proof of concept and maybe provide power to one coastal town or offshore island.
I suspect part of the problem is that Europe is now in full panic mode as reality meets fantasy/magical thinking in the worst way.
On the other hand, financial people I know never have good words to say about "financial derivatives" which are essentially fantasy money. So in the long term, getting rid of that market might not be as horrible as it sounds but in the short term it could add a lot more pain to an already very painful situation.
She's an engineer working with Water Treatment Plants (so she knows regulations) and she said normally it takes 15 years to build a new nuclear power plant. Even if by some miracle a government could declare an "emergency" and stop all appeals and most surveys, it would still physically take five years to build.
So far, only the United Kingdom seems serious about that one and that could change with the change of Prime Ministers this afternoon, we just don't know.
I used to be totally opposed to nuclear power but I've come to accept that modern plants when built correctly, may be the only way forward for the next few years. While planning for the combination of newer technologies, including improved nuclear production which can be done on a much smaller scale (fusion has now been managed in labs but that is likely at least a decade or two down the road without another breakthrough.
Also, the ignoring systems we know could work but take courage to look at what has to be done - for example, Ireland might be able to get a huge portion of its energy from tidal power which has been used here since the 10th century to power mills. There are working models that show that the island of Ireland (among other places) has the perfect ocean and tidal setup for doing this, also the tides themselves make the energy storage problem (the dirty little secret of why almost no "renewable energy" works all the time) easier to keep the batteries full.
It isn't perfect, no system is, but I don't see anyone seriously talking about building this or even the funding for a larger working model just off the coast to show proof of concept and maybe provide power to one coastal town or offshore island.
I suspect part of the problem is that Europe is now in full panic mode as reality meets fantasy/magical thinking in the worst way.
On the other hand, financial people I know never have good words to say about "financial derivatives" which are essentially fantasy money. So in the long term, getting rid of that market might not be as horrible as it sounds but in the short term it could add a lot more pain to an already very painful situation.
vector7
Dot Collector
Lights out and candles lit in Italy due to 500% increase in energy bills. It will be a very hot autumn in Europe and beyond.
RT 34secs
View: https://twitter.com/RadioGenova/status/1566500237597986816?t=noWkUxFy6xcCwrPKpwFXDQ&s=19
RT 34secs
View: https://twitter.com/RadioGenova/status/1566500237597986816?t=noWkUxFy6xcCwrPKpwFXDQ&s=19
bw
Fringe Ranger
The stock of candles will be exhausted before cold weather comes.
Can you find enough skilled workers?
Here, the carpenter's union can't find enough apprentices to fill a class.
I was told the last class they scraped together had "two or 3 millwright apprentices switch over". The millwright rollovers said they switched because they didn't want to travel as much. The carpenter union would mean more nights in their own bed.
The last group of scaffolding builders we used were just barely acceptable. The good crew retired. "Good help is nonexistent." That was a quote from the guy running the crew.
I don't think things will be much better where you are...
I would think that the lighting loads probably use little electricity. The reefers and other appliances are the big hogs. All those candles are a fire waiting to happen
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Europe's Energy Crisis Was Created By Political Interventionism
Authored by Daniel Lacalle,An energy policy that bans investment in some technologies based on ideological views and ignores security of supply is doomed to a strepitous failure.
The energy crisis in the European Union was not created by market failures or lack of alternatives. It was created by political nudging and imposition.
Renewable energies are a positive force within a balanced energy mix, not on their own, due to the volatile and intermittent nature of the technology. Politicians have imposed an unstable energy mix banning base technologies that work almost 100% of the time and this has made prices soar for consumers and threatened security of supply.
This week, Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of the European Commission, gave two messages that have grabbed many headlines. First, she announced a strong intervention in the electricity market, and then she stated at the Baltic Sea Energy Security Summit the proposal to increase renewables to 45% of the total generation mix by 2030. She considers that this is not an energy crisis but “a fossil fuel crisis.”
However, Ms Von Der Leyen’s messages have two problems. Europe’s energy crisis is due to intervention at a massive scale. Furthermore, massively increasing renewables does not eliminate the risk of dependence on Russia or other commodity suppliers.
The European electricity market is probably the most intervened in the world. More intervention is not going to solve the problems created by a political design that has made most countries’ energy mix expensive, volatile, and intermittent.
Ideology is a bad partner in energy.
Between 70 and 75% of the electricity tariff in most European countries are regulated costs, subsidies and taxes set by governments and, in the remaining part, the so-called “liberalized” generation, the cost of CO2 allowances has skyrocketed due to those same governments that limit supply of permits and the energy mix is imposed by political decisions.
In Germany, only 24% of all costs in a household bill are “supplier costs”, according to the BDEW 2021. The vast majority of costs are taxes and costs set by the government: Grid charges (24%), renewable energy surcharge (20%), sales tax (VAT) (16%), electricity tax (6%), concession levy (5%), offshore liability levy (0.03%), surcharge for combined heat and power plants (0.08%), levy for industry rebate on grid fees (1.3%). However, the “problem”, according to the messages of the President of the European Commission, is the market. Go figure.
It is surprising to read that Europe’s power markets are “free markets”, when governments impose the technologies within the energy mix, monopolize and limit licenses, prohibit investment in some technologies or close others, as well as forcing a rising cost of CO2 permits limiting their supply.
Intervention was to shut down nuclear power and rely massively on natural gas and lignite as Germany did. Intervention was to prohibit the development of domestic unconventional natural gas in Europe. Intervention is to shut down reservoirs when hydro power is key to lower household bills. Intervention is increasing subsidies at the wrong time and then raising taxes on efficient technologies. Intervention is to stop the gas pipeline that would double interconnections with France. Intervention is to prohibit lithium mining while talking of defending renewables, which need this commodity. Intervention is to fill the consumer’s bill with taxes and regulated costs that have nothing to do with energy consumption. Intervention, in essence, is the chain of errors in energy policy that have led Europe to have electricity and natural gas more than twice as expensive as in the US, as Durao Barroso warned in 2013.
European power prices are not expensive by chance, but by design. The exponential increase in subsidies, regulated costs and the price of CO2 emission rights are political decisions.
Eliminating baseload energies (nuclear, hydraulic) that work all the time and replacing them with renewables that need a backup of natural gas and heavy investments in infrastructure is expensive. It has been throughout Europe, and it will continue to be.
An energy transition must be competitive and guarantee security of supply, or it will not be. More intervention does not solve the problems.
European governments should worry about erasing from household bills all those items that have nothing to do with electricity consumption, including the cost of past planning errors, and lower taxes that are simply unaffordable. Those items should be in the national budget and other non-essential expenses should be cut to avoid rising deficits.
The market is not always perfect, but government intervention is always imperfect.
Governments are awfully bad at picking winners, but they are even worse at picking losers. Constant intervention leaves a trail of debt and cost overruns that all consumers pay.
What happens when the government intervenes? It closes nuclear power out of ideological obsession and then depends on 40% of its energy mix on coal, lignite, and gas, like Germany. Or it brings its flagship public company to the brink of bankruptcy by intervening tariffs, like France. Or, like Spain, it creates a diplomatic conflict with its largest natural gas supplier, Algeria, and, with it, doubles its gas purchases from Russia since the beginning of the war to July 2022.
Now, the European Union is rushing to install new floating regasification plants. More than thirty. The problem? That practically all the liquefied natural gas ships for this winter have already been contracted.
The same governments that refused to strengthen natural gas supply chains when it was cheap are now rushing to spend vast amounts on low-efficiency solutions.
Installing renewables does not eliminate dependence on natural gas. Renewables are, by definition, intermittent, and volatile as well as difficult to plan. Additionally, installing more renewables also requires huge spending on transmission and distribution investments, which makes the tariff more expensive.
Investing more in renewables is positive, but no politician can say that they are the only solution. The storage problem, the astronomical cost of a battery network and the necessary infrastructure, estimated at more than two billion euros if it were feasible, are key factors. If today Europe had a 100% solar and wind mix, it would be excessively volatile and intermittent, and in periods of low solar and wind availability it would increase dependence on natural gas, which is necessary as backup, and the need for hydro and nuclear, baseload energies that work all the time. Additionally, renewables, which are positive in a balanced energy mix, do not reduce dependence on other countries. Countries become dependent on China and other nations for lithium, aluminium, copper, etc.
Installing 45% renewables in the mix does not eliminate the dependence on natural gas, it only reduces it slightly in the part of the renewable load factor that is more stable (part of wind production). In fact, dependence on periods of low wind energy and low solar yield would be extremely high and, as we have already experienced, those coincide with periods in which gas and coal are more expensive due to greater demand.
If there is one thing that this crisis shows us, it is that what Europe needs is more market and less intervention. Europe arrived at this crisis due to a combination of arrogance and ignorance on the part of the legislators who control the energy mix. The importance of a balanced mix, with nuclear, hydro, gas and renewables is more evident every day.
Interventionist energy policy has failed miserably. More intervention is not going to solve it.
Europe's Energy Crisis Was Created By Political Interventionism | ZeroHedge
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