Canadian wildfires are reducing solar power generation in Europe
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- Study published in Communications Earth & Environment found that smoke from the 2023 Canadian wildfires caused a 3% drop in solar power generation across Europe and North America, resulting in nearly $2 billion in losses.
- North America, mainly the US, lost $711 million in solar generation value, while Europe lost almost $1.17 billion, with Germany bearing the heaviest impact.
- Iulian-Alin Roșu at the Technical University of Crete led the research with Matthew Jones at the University of East Anglia, discovering the cooling effect of smoke actually boosted solar panel efficiency by 20% in Europe, partially offsetting reduced sunlight.
- Europe's higher electricity prices and the US's concentration of solar capacity in southern and western states—which saw less smoke—explain why Europe absorbed a larger share of the financial losses.
- Reduced solar output triggered increased CO2 emissions as conventional fossil-fuel generation ramped up to compensate for the clean-energy shortfall, according to the researchers.
- Roșu warned that Canadian wildfire smoke is reaching Europe again this season, calling current data 'relatively worrying,' though it's too early to compare with the scale of 2023.
Why it matters: Europe absorbed the larger share of losses—$1.17 billion versus $711 million for North America—because of higher electricity prices and the geographic concentration of US solar in less smoke-affected states. The study quantifies a previously hidden infrastructure cost of wildfire smoke beyond health and climate effects, and with 2025 smoke already drifting toward Europe, solar-dependent grids now face a recurring reliability variable tied to fire seasons thousands of miles away.
