LONDON — Europe is in jeopardy of running short of power because wholesale electricity prices are too low to encourage spending on new thermal plants, the International Energy Agency said.
The region needs more than $2 trillion in power industry investment by 2035 and about 100 gigawatts of new thermal capacity in the decade to 2025, the Paris-based IEA said Tuesday in its World Energy Investment Outlook. Electricity prices are more than 20 percent below the level necessary to spur investment. One gigawatt is enough to power about 2 million European homes.
‘‘The investment required to maintain the reliability of Europe’s electricity system is unlikely to materialize with the current design of power markets,’’ said the IEA.
Natural gas-fired power plants accounting for 14 percent of installed capacity in the European Union were idled, shut, or at risk of closing at the end of 2013 as utilities burn coal instead, the International Center for Natural Gas Information said Monday. Europe is at risk of losing one-third of its gas- and coal-fired capacity, the center said.