Source: The post Jellyfish swarms expose heat-stressed electricity grids worldwide has been created, based on the article “Climate havoc: Even jelly fishcan trip electricity supply now” published in “Live Mint” on 19th August 2025. Jellyfish swarms expose heat-stressed electricity grids worldwide.
UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 3-infrastructure- energy And Environment
Context: Jellyfish swarms in unusually warm northern European waters shut two French nuclear plants by clogging cooling intakes. This headline failure anchors the article’s argument: extreme heat strains generation, water, transmission, wind, and data-centre cooling, while solar and batteries help only partly.
Jellyfish Shutdowns and Heat-Driven Failures
- French nuclear intake clogging: Jellyfish blocked reactor intakes, forcing shutdowns. Other units may cut output because the Rhône and Garonne are too warm for safe cooling.
- Iraq’s demand surge in extreme heat: During Arba’in, demand for fans and air-conditioners surged as temperatures topped 40 °C. Supply to most of Iraqcollapsed.
- Backup equipment overheating: At the Cincinnati Open, an on-site generator apparently overheated, causing a power outage and suspending play.
Thermal Generation Loses Efficiency in Heat
- Design limits surpassed: Energy assets are built for narrow temperature bands. A warming climate pushes them beyond those limits when demand peaks.
- Forced-outage probabilities: Heatwaves raise failure risks: coal +3.2 percentage points, gas +1.3, nuclear +1.0, according to Sweden–Italy researchers.
- Severe output loss case: An Iraqi gas plant lost ~21% of potential output as ambient temperature rose from 25 °C to 50 °C.
Cooling Water Scarcity Deepens Risks
- Heatwaves, drought, and coolant shortages: Thermal plants must dump waste heat. Warmer air and water make cooling harder and less available.
- India’s shutdowns and local strain: Since 2014, India has lost 19 days of coal power to water shortages. Many communities turn to tanker trucks and deeper boreholes.
- Rising competition with drinking needs: By 2050, power stations may pressure water supplies more than drinking needs, government forecasts warn.
Renewables and the Grid Under Heat
- Wind lulls in hot spells: Hot conditions often cut wind speeds. The affected area has grown 6.3% per decade since the early 1980s; about 60% of the planet is now at risk.
- Regional wind variations: Australia, Siberia, and Europe can see 30%–50% declines during heatwaves. The northern US, east Africa, the Amazon, and western China sometimes see the opposite.
- Transmission and transformer stress: Cables and transformers heat under load as air temperatures rise. Failures become more likely during AC-driven demand spikes.
Data-Centre Demand and the Outlook
- Cooling loads at data centres: About one third of data-centre electricity goes to heating and cooling. A 2022 heatwave shut server racks at two London hospitals, disrupting IT.
- Relative resilience of solar and batteries: Solar PV and lithium-ion batteries are more heat-resilient than thermal plants and wind, offering partial relief.
- Enduring legacy: Industrial systems rely on a moderate climate now disrupted by fossil emissions. The damage from fossil technologywill persist even after cleaner power spreads.
Question for practice:
Examine how jellyfish swarms and heatwaves disrupt electricity generation and grids?
