TikTok videos of cats versus defence companies. The interests of oil companies weighed against those of reindeer herders. Data centres or activities providing more jobs. Even rival green steel projects.
The list of unlikely conflicts sparked across Europe as a result of competition for electricity is growing rapidly and providing increasing headaches for governments as well as companies trying to get hold of critical power.
Europe’s energy policies are in a muddle. Blackouts in Spain, Portugal and London’s Heathrow airport have laid bare the lack of resilience in a crucial sector, already hobbled by decisions such as Germany’s early phasing out of nuclear power.