Britain had to pay more than 10 times the usual price to buy electricity from Belgium as the cost soared following last week's heatwave, analysts have said.
Prices on the Nemo link, a 140-kilometre cable under the English Channel, reached a record £9,724.54 ($11,119.01) per megawatt hour at one stage on Wednesday.
A more normal price would be well below £1,000.
Analysts at energy tracker EnAppSys said the price surge was caused by constraints on the British network, possibly linked to the two-day heatwave on Monday and Tuesday.
The heatwave brought record 40ºC temperatures to the UK and led to a spike in electricity demand, as many people turned to air conditioning in a country that rarely uses it.
To add to the pressure, a storm front was moving over Belgium that limited solar power capacity, and the heatwave across Europe may have reduced the output from wind turbines, the analysts said.
“With the stress the Belgian system was under it is probably no coincidence that the cost of purchasing energy from Belgium was high,” they said.
The summer strains come amid concerns over how Europe will cope with potential gas shortages this winter if supplies from Russia completely dry up.
Britain's grid operator sent out two automated warning notices to the market last week signalling that more power needed to be generated, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The UK has interconnectors with France, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway which send power in both directions.
The cables cover Britain's needs when its main workhorses of gas, nuclear and wind are not generating enough power. Imports and exports were broadly equal on Monday.
Britain and Belgium agreed in principle in February to build a second link.
In the north of England, thousands of households suffered power cuts as Britain buckled in last week's heat, with trains and aircraft grinding to a halt and many people choosing to stay at home.
In addition, solar panels are less efficient in extreme heat and the optimum temperature is about 25ºC, an industry group in Britain said, with records set in the spring rather than summer.
Still, it said solar power provided about a quarter of Britain's electricity at the height of last Tuesday's extreme heat.
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About Seez
Company name/date started: Seez, set up in September 2015 and the app was released in August 2017
Founder/CEO name(s): Tarek Kabrit, co-founder and chief executive, and Andrew Kabrit, co-founder and chief operating officer
Based in: Dubai, with operations also in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon
Sector: Search engine for car buying, selling and leasing
Size: (employees/revenue): 11; undisclosed
Stage of funding: $1.8 million in seed funding; followed by another $1.5m bridge round - in the process of closing Series A
Investors: Wamda Capital, B&Y and Phoenician Funds
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now