Solar buoyed Europe’s grid amid record-breaking heat and drought this summer

This summer's record heat and drought in Europe put a strain on the power grid, but solar panels held up better than any other energy source. Heat waves usually bring clear, sunny skies, and Europe's solar panels produced 17 percent more power than usual during the hottest stretches, according to the energy think tank Ember. Batteries helped stretch that solar power into the evening, when air conditioners were still running but the sun had gone down.

Other power sources struggled. Wind farms in the UK produced about half their usual output in June because hot, stagnant air brought low wind speeds. Gas plants there cut output too, since heat made their cooling systems less effective. In France, nuclear plants lost 18 percent of their capacity in mid-July because warm, low rivers couldn't cool them without violating limits on how warm the water they discharge can be. As demand spiked (28 percent higher in Italy during the worst heat, 14 percent in France) and supply fell, power and gas prices hit their highest levels since the 2022-2023 winter energy crisis.

None of this is really about your own equipment, but it points to where things are headed: as more homes across Europe and elsewhere add air conditioning, solar paired with battery storage is emerging as the combination best able to keep the lights and AC on during extreme heat, while older nuclear and gas plants that depend on river water for cooling become more vulnerable to hot, dry summers.