Arctic Cold Leaves Southeast European Towns Without Power
- Bulgaria declines emergency requests from Greece, Turkey
- Comes after Greece, Romania limited exports to Bulgaria
A street Santeramo, south of Italy, is covered by snow on Jan. 7.
Photographer: AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Arctic chill and heavy snowfall left tens of thousands of households in southeastern Europe without electricity and roiled the region’s power markets as rivers froze over, cables failed and generation plants reduced output or shut down.
Hydroelectric production plummeted in the Balkans as temperatures fell as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) and parts of the Danube river were almost entirely covered with ice. From Hungary to Bulgaria, day-ahead power prices jumped, in some cases to record levels.