The effects of a failing power grid in South Africa

European countries narrowly avoided an energy crisis in the past winter months, as a shortfall in fossil fuel supplies from Russia threatened to destabilize power grids across the region. This elevated level of risk to the normally robust European grid has not been seen for decades.

A combination of unseasonably mild weather, energy saving initiatives and alternative gas supplies averted a full-blown energy crisis, at least for now, although business and home consumers are paying a heavy price through high energy bills. The potential risk to the grid forced European data center operators to re-evaluate both their power arrangements and their relationship with the grid. Even without an energy security crisis, power systems elsewhere are becoming less reliable, including some of the major grid regions in the US.