Lockdown extension: Gbajabiamila speaks on the need for stable electricity

NordLink is one of the world's longest subsea cables. It will connect the energy grids of Norway and Germany, with a test run already completed successfully. It will provide some 3.6 million households with green power.

In the first half of 2021, coal shot up as the biggest contributor to Germany's electric grid, while wind power dropped to its lowest level since 2018. Officials say the weather is partly to blame.

The price of electricity in Spain has skyrocketed in recent months, leaving some consumers with difficult choices to make about their spending. The Spanish government has announced measures including a VAT cut and a windfall tax on energy company profits to try to combat the price increases, which have been triggered by the rising price of gas. Also today, the troubled Chinese property developer Evergrande faces a major debt deadline.

A young Congolese designed a wind turbine in his parents’ backyard in Kinshasa. It generates enough electricity for his household. Now, Francy Kalonji plans to expand production to supply his neighbors with electricity.

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Amid supermarket food rationing, a truck drivers' strike over petrol prices and rising inflation in Spain, the country's economy minister tells FRANCE 24 that it's "essential" for Madrid to be allowed to take measures to bring electricity prices down. "We're working with the Commission to have an authorisation to decouple our energy market and thus stop this price increase […] It doesn't make sense that Spanish and Portuguese citizens do not benefit from the fact that we have for instance at least 50 percent of our generation from renewables. This is very cheap and clean energy and our citizens should benefit from these low prices," Nadia Calviño explains.

Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Wednesday.⁣

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has firmed up its plans for addressing the energy crisis as the country heads into winter. The plans still need to win the approval of Germany's state leaders.

Russian airstrikes on power plants have left many Ukrainian cities with little or no electricity. Attacks have also knocked out water supplies in several areas. Fighting rages on, with multiple front lines across the country.

Nigeria’s House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts has summoned the Managing Director of Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading over the ₦‎4 trillion debt owed by some international electricity customers since 2018.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has filed a lawsuit against Nigeria’s President over the failure to reverse what it describes as unlawful and unjust increase in electricity tariff.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was forced this week to cancel a trip to Davos by an escalating energy crisis that is inflicting rolling blackouts on the continent’s most developed economy.