In a newly built dock along the German Elbe River, tankers from the United States dissolve liquid natural gas to stimulate factories and houses. In Central Spain, a forest of wind turbines that are planted on top of mountains helps the energy network of electricity. In the French government buildings in the winter in the winter were reduced to save electricity.
In the three years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine has ignited an energy crisis throughout Europe, the continent has the way in which it generates and stores power. Russian natural gas, Long Europe's Energy Lifeline, has been replaced by other sources, in particular liquid natural gas from the United States. Wind and solar energy generation has risen around 50 percent since 2021. New nuclear power stations are planned for the continent.
But the energy security of Europe remains vulnerable. The region produces much less natural gas than it uses and is still largely dependent on other countries, especially the United States, to keep the lights. Natural gas, which runs the electricity price, is about four times as expensive as in the United States. High energy costs have tense households and forced factories to close and weaken the European economy.
A dependence on Russia
The invasion of Ukraine from 2022 revealed the dependence on Europe from Russia, in particular natural gas, which accounts for around 20 percent of Europe's energy consumption.
“The energy seemed cheap, but it exposed us to blackmail,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, last month at the World Economic Forum.
The prices increased in 2022 after Russia would cut the gas flows completely in Europe and other factors. Countries merged to share fuel and other energy sources and to build or change infrastructure to transport it. These efforts are expected to have reduced the dependence on Europe of Russian gas to 8 percent of the supplies in 2025, of 35 percent in 2021, according to Anna Galtsova, an analyst at S&P Global Commodity Insights, a research agency.
Norway is now the largest gas supplier, mainly through a web of pipelines. But Russia has become a large supplier of liquid natural gas, the second only for the United States in 2024.
And Europe has become better in focusing the energy to where it is needed, which means that “an enormous amount of flexibility that Europe did not have on the eve of the war,” said Anatol Feygin, Chief Commercial Officer at Cheniere Energy, a big American LNG -exporter.
Helping that turning were programs that encouraged households and government buildings to lower thermostats to 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit). Factories throughout Europe have also curbed production to prevent sizzling energy bills. Other initiatives, such as alleviating stores early in the evening, were rolled out.
Solutions for renewable energy
Europe built more renewable energy projects to bridge the gap. Before the invasion of Russia, about a third of the European electricity generation of renewable energy, propelled by an accumulation of wind and solar energy, came. In 2024, wind and sun farms generated more electrical current than fossil fuels, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights.
“That is a big change, and that goes with the extra policy pushing to get alternative energy sources in the system,” said Tim Gould, Chief Energy Economist at the International Energy Agency in Paris.
But shifting to renewable energy is expensive. Although the total energy prices have fallen compared to their 2022 peaks, both gas and electricity rates remain increased. Renewable sources such as wind and sun have made great progress, but a lot of investments are still needed to fill in the gaps of low wind and sun periods.
Large polluters such as steel makers have said that Europe is not doing enough to promote a shift to greener operations. “European policy, energy and market environments have not been moved in a favorable direction,” said ArcelorMittal, Europe's largest steel company, in November.
Global competition for gas
The biggest alternative to gas that is started from Russia is by far liquid natural gas, but it is a relatively expensive option. With gas vital for industry, heating and power generation, the shift of Russian supplies has been difficult.
Europe has been delivered to the global markets and offers China and South Korea for liquid natural gas. The prices have recently risen to the highest level in a year, companies hurt and contribute to a crisis of the costs of life in Europe.
The largest source of liquid natural gas is the United States, usually terminals of the Gulf Coast, which offer almost half of the European delivery. Europe has seen a flourish when setting up terminals to receive LNG, especially in Germany, who had no energy crisis.
During a cold Snap in January, various American tankers with liquid natural gas changed course for Europe, where they could make a larger profit, said Natasha Fielding, head of European gas prices at Argus Media, a London research agency.
“Europe has made really remarkable progress,” said David L. Goldwyn, who was an energy sides of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the Administrations of Clinton and Obama. “But when the weather gets cold and the competition from Asia for LNG increases, the situation looks more challenging.”
The gas prices remain high
The natural gas prices in Europe have fallen from the penalty highlights of 2022, but in 2024 they were still double of their five -year average before the war, according to the International Energy Agency.
Although the import of Russian gas has plummeted by the European pipelines, Europe has expanded its purchases of liquid natural gas from Russia, which arrives via the port. There has not been enough time to develop new resources such as LNG to compensate for the loss of Russian gas.
The ebb and streams of LNG are largely determined by market forces. President Trump has encouraged Europe to import more fuel from the United States, and Mrs. von der Leyen has suggested that LNG could replace Russian fuel from the United States.
A level of extra gas output to Europe from Russia can be absorbed as a sweetener for President Vladimir V. Putin van Russia to agree to a scheme in Ukraine, analysts say. “That would be a serious negative for American energy exporters,” said Mr. Goldwyn.
The costs of the energy crisis
Exorbitant gas costs have contributed to rising inflation and led factories that employed thousands in Europe to close or move to countries with cheaper energy.
Some of the greatest European names are cropping their activities. The German chemical giant Basf said it would be closed on his site in Ludwigshafen at the border with France, while it would make the largest foreign investment in its history in China, where energy is cheaper to two -thirds than in Europe.
High natural gas prices have translated into higher costs for making ammonia, a crucial component in fertilizers. Yara International, a manure dust giant based in Norway, stops the production of the ammonia in his factory in Tertre, Belgium, which may lead to more than 100 job losses. “High energy prices are a huge challenge for the European competitive capacity,” said a spokeswoman.
The energy crisis has also led to a painful crisis of the costs of living for families throughout Europe. Energy poverty has jumped in Europe, with almost 10 percent of the population who reports that it is unable to keep its houses warm and a larger number of households falls behind when paying their energy bills.
“We have created a state of energy prairness,” said Niki Vouzas, spokeswoman for the national federation of rural families in France. “People heat their house less and fill the gas tank less.”
A tough battle
In recent months, renewed signs of market have brought unrest. The colder weather has led Europe to have built up the storage levels it builds for the winter faster than the previous year than the previous year, which leads to the rebuilding of these shares in the summer.
“The challenge will be this summer to supplement the reserves for the next winter,” said Mrs. Fielding of Argus.
Despite the premium prices in recent years, the overall gas production of Europe has fallen. Higher taxes have deterred the investments in the British North Sea, while the Netherlands once closes the productive Groningen field after production caused earthquakes. The domestic output in the European Union and Great Britain was less than 20 percent of consumption in 2024, estimates of S&P Global Commodity Insights.
The OMV of Austria is one of the rare companies that want to increase gas production in Europe. The only way to make Europe's energy costs competitive with other regions such as the United States “is to increase the supplies of gas,” said Alfred Stern, Chief Executive of OMV.
“We are past Peak Crisis,” said Michael Stoppard, Global Gas Strategy Lead at S&P Global Commodity Insights. “But we are not out of the forest.”
