Heat and power: Impacts of the 2025 heatwave in Europe

This report by Ember analyses the impact of a June–July 2025 heatwave on European power systems, noting that while extreme temperatures drove up electricity demand and prices and caused thermal plant outages, record solar generation and storage helped maintain grid stability.

• The June–July 2025 heatwave, with local temperatures exceeding 40°C, increased daily electricity demand by up to 14% and caused average daily power prices to rise by 2–3 times.
• Specific national impacts during the heatwave peak (June 28 to July 2) included electricity demand growth of 14% in Spain, 9% in France, and 6% in Germany. Average daily prices grew by 175% in Germany, 108% in France, 106% in Poland, and 15% in Spain.
• High temperatures caused significant disruptions to thermal power plants, particularly in France, where the heatwave may have impacted up to 15% of nuclear capacity. On July 1–2, 7 GW of offline capacity was marked as "Forced" by the transmission system operator, and the Golfech plant shut down completely.
• Record EU solar generation in June 2025 reached 45 TWh, a 22% increase over June 2024, which helped stabilize the grid. In Germany, solar delivered up to 50 GW of power during peak heatwave days, accounting for 33–39% of the country's electricity.
• To mitigate future heatwave impacts, the report suggests deploying battery storage, interconnection, and demand flexibility. Specific initiatives include the UK NESO's Distributed ReStart project for renewables-based black starts and an anti-blackout package proposed by Poland's PSE on July 2.

APA

Czyzak, D. P. (2025). Heat and power: Impacts of the 2025 heatwave in Europe. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Ember-Report-Heat-and-Power-Impacts-of-the-2025-heatwave-in-Europe.pdf

Chicago

Czyzak, Dr Pawel. Heat and power: Impacts of the 2025 heatwave in Europe. Ember, 2025. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Ember-Report-Heat-and-Power-Impacts-of-the-2025-heatwave-in-Europe.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Czyzak |first1=Dr Pawel |title=Heat and power: Impacts of the 2025 heatwave in Europe |publisher=Ember |date=4 July 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Ember-Report-Heat-and-Power-Impacts-of-the-2025-heatwave-in-Europe.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{czyzak2025heat, author = {Czyzak, Dr Pawel}, title = {{Heat and power: Impacts of the 2025 heatwave in Europe}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Ember-Report-Heat-and-Power-Impacts-of-the-2025-heatwave-in-Europe.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }