Europe shifts focus to avoiding energy shortage next year


              FILE - Morning light lights the landfall facility of the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the OPAL gas pipeline, the Baltic Sea Pipeline Link, in Lubmin, Germany, on July 21, 2022. The heads of the International Energy Agency and European Union's executive branch said Monday Dec. 12, 2022 that the 27-nation bloc is expected to weather an energy crisis this winter but needs to speed renewables to the market and take other steps to avoid a potential shortage next year in natural gas needed for heating, electricity and factories. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
            
              FILE - Tudor Popescu chops fire wood he uses for heating in a storage room attached to his home in Chisinau, Moldova, on Oct. 15, 2022. The heads of the International Energy Agency and European Union's executive branch said Monday Dec. 12, 2022 that the 27-nation bloc is expected to weather an energy crisis this winter but needs to speed renewables to the market and take other steps to avoid a potential shortage next year in natural gas needed for heating, electricity and factories. (AP Photo/Aurel Obreja, File)
            
              FILE - Steam leaves a cooling tower of the Lichterfelde gas-fired power plant in Berlin, Germany, on March 30, 2022. The heads of the International Energy Agency and European Union's executive branch said Monday Dec. 12, 2022 that the 27-nation bloc is expected to weather an energy crisis this winter but needs to speed renewables to the market and take other steps to avoid a potential shortage next year in natural gas needed for heating, electricity and factories. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
            File - Solar panels on Germany's biggest floating photovoltaic plant produce energy under a blue sky on a lake in Haltern, Germany, on May 3, 2022. The heads of the International Energy Agency and European Union's executive branch said Monday Dec. 12, 2022 that the 27-nation bloc is expected to weather an energy crisis this winter but needs to speed renewables to the market and take other steps to avoid a potential shortage next year in natural gas needed for heating, electricity and factories. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)