Analysis Countries in Europe that have shifted away from coal in favour of renewables are now vulnerable to electricity price shocks as Russia—the region’s primary natural gas supplier—begins its invasion of Ukraine. Except for Poland, all countries in the European Union (EU) have pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. To achieve this, the EU has begun phasing out coal power and accelerated the uptake of wind, which has soared nearly twenty-fold from 20 TWh (terawatt-hours) to 400 TWh over the last two decades. The EU has also begun to phase out nuclear energy over environmental concerns, putting more pressure on wind power to meet the region’s carbon dioxide-free energy targets. But intermittent forms of power generation, such as wind and solar, depend entirely on weather and daylight, with power not guaranteed to meet the demand at all times. To combat this via the renewables route, energy storage is required, …