More than 2,700 people are estimated to have died in the UK alone due to the heat wave, according to a research study.
According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 12th, researchers from Imperial College London, the UK Met Office, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated the heat wave death toll using historical statistics from the heat wave period and peer-reviewed analytical methods.
According to the study, about 550 people died during the May heat wave, while an additional 2,200 deaths were analyzed to have occurred during the June heat wave. The UK Met Office recently announced that, for the first time in weather observation history, temperatures exceeding 35 degrees were recorded on at least one day each in May, June, and July this year. Compared to the average UK summer temperature of 14.6 to 16.7 degrees recorded from 1990 to 2020, this represents a stretch of extremely hot weather more than 10 degrees higher. Last month was recorded as the hottest June in England's history, and on June 26 (Ringwood, Norfolk), a temperature of 37.7 degrees was observed, surpassing the previous record of 35.6 degrees set in June 1976 (Southampton, Hampshire).
A "red heat wave alert" was issued, warning that the heat wave could pose a threat to life even for healthy people. Most deaths from heat waves are not caused by heatstroke but by the worsening of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. This is because the body's burden of lowering its temperature increases, raising the risk of heart attack, stroke, and respiratory failure. Vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, and those with underlying conditions suffer greater harm.
Malcolm Mistry, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, noted that "extreme heat is rapidly turning into a serious health risk in the UK."
As a result, the emergency system faced chaos. According to the FT, as medical demand surged, some hospitals declared a state of emergency, and situations arose where some treatment spaces were difficult to operate safely due to a lack of cooling facilities. Researchers at the University of Birmingham estimated that during the four hottest days in June, there was a risk of up to 4,000 surgery cancellations due to medical staff shortages and operating room safety concerns.
The UK Met Office forecast that the heat wave, with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees in parts of England and Wales, would continue this week. Damage from the heat wave is occurring not only in the UK but across Europe. Europe is also a region warming at twice the rate of the global average. In Germany, about 5,500 excess deaths occurred during the June heat wave. France recorded about 2,000 excess deaths, and Belgium about 1,200.
As Sunlight Pours Down, Solar Power Also Shuts Down: The Irony of Green Energy
Amid this situation, an ironic development occurred in which solar energy generation was halted due to high sunlight.
According to The Guardian on the same day, the Derril Water solar farm in Devon, the UK's largest community-owned solar power project, received a shutdown order over concerns that large-scale rooftop solar generation could cause "thermal overload" on the local power grid. This means solar power was already unable to operate weeks before record-breaking heat struck across Europe and power supply alerts were issued.
The power plant will be unable to resume operations until September, and the roughly 10,000 cooperative members are expected to lose about 2 million pounds (about 4 billion won) in generation revenue, The Guardian reported.
This is analyzed to be due to inadequate systems unable to handle the surge in solar power supply. In summer, sunlight hours are long, producing surplus solar power, making it particularly difficult to manage the increase in rooftop solar generation. The problem can be solved by installing special equipment to control voltage issues, but such facilities have not yet been built in the area near the Derril Water solar plant.
As a result, the UK National Energy System Operator (NESO) reportedly instructed National Grid, the UK's power and gas supply company, to halt operation of a "super grid transformer (SGT)" to prevent transmission grid voltage from exceeding safety standards due to the increase in rooftop solar generation in northern Devon. The SGT is a key gateway that sends ultra-high-voltage electricity generated at power plants to local areas.
Members who invested in the UK's first community-owned solar farm are expected to incur losses. The project was funded with 20 million pounds (40.2 billion won) contributed by cooperative members and a 22 million pound (44.2 billion won) long-term bank loan, and members were reportedly expecting annual electricity bill savings of at least 200 pounds (400,000 won).
As heat waves grow more severe year by year and European citizens increasingly call for expanding the adoption of air conditioning, upgrading the power grid is expected to become a challenge facing Europe. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) noted that "considering the additional power demand from air conditioning use, if air conditioning becomes widely adopted in Europe, power demand patterns are highly likely to change significantly."
