The Big Picture
Vincent Boland: Is this energy crunch a passing phenomenon or is it here to stay?
Norway’s recent row with its neighbours over any curbs on its energy exports is an unexpected and perhaps extreme illustration of the depth of the energy crisis facing Europe
You can tell that Europe’s energy crisis is serious when even the Nordic countries – those eminently reasonable people in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland – start bickering, as they did in the past few weeks, over the supply of electricity.
Norway is a big exporter of electric power to northern Europe, and almost all of its electricity is generated using hydro power. After an exceptionally dry year, its water reservoirs are only about two-thirds ...