Archives par mot-clé : Blackout

energy and fields

Have The Intermittent Energy Blackouts Begun?

by F. Menton, May 1, 2025 in WUWT

Today there have been widespread electricity blackouts across Europe, beginning in Spain and Portugal in the early afternoon (local time), and then spreading to other countries including France, Andorra, Belgium and the Netherlands. Is this related to the increasing penetration of intermittent generation from wind and solar facilities?

For years, many in the climate skeptic community have warned that expansion of intermittent renewable electricity generation on the grid will, sooner or later, lead to frequent blackouts. The reason for the warning is easy to understand: The grid has some rather exacting operational requirements that the intermittent renewable generation technologies cannot fulfill. Primary among these requirements are, first, minute-by-minute matching of electricity supply with electricity demand and, second, grid-wide synchronization of the frequency of the alternating current. When wind and solar provided relatively small portions of the electricity consumed, other generation sources, particularly thermal (fossil fuel) and hydro, would fulfill these requirements. But as wind and solar come to dominate generation, the problems become much more difficult to solve.

Here at Manhattan Contrarian, I have mostly steered clear of covering this topic. Although I think I understand the main issues, I am certainly not a grid engineer. And there are many smart people who are engineers and who have the job of “balancing” the grid to keep it consistently up and running in the face of the challenges of intermittent wind and solar generation. Maybe they can succeed. I doubt it. But I definitely have wanted to avoid “crying wolf,” predicting over and over that frequent blackouts are imminent, only to find that the engineers have come up with solutions that seem to work reasonably well.

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renewable energy

Solar Power’s Overreliance Likely Culprit In Spain And Portugal Blackouts

by M. Oliver, Apr 28, 2025 in ClimateChangeDispatch 

The large amount of solar power on the Spanish and Portuguese grids may have left the Iberian power grid more vulnerable to faults or cyberattacks, according to one expert. [emphasis, links added]

This is because of the need for “inertia” on the electricity system, which is a byproduct of generators that have spinning parts—such as those running on gas, coal, or hydropower.

These have turbines that can speed up or slow down to help adjust the power frequency, which must be kept within certain limits.

Inertia also helps to protect the system from faults that cause sudden frequency drops, giving grid operators time to switch on alternative generators.

Solar panels do not generate inertia on the system, however, and there are known issues with low inertia on the Iberian grid.

At about 10 am this morning, roughly two hours before the power cuts, almost 60 percent of Spain’s power was being generated by solar farms, according to transparency data.

At lunchtime, power demand tends to drop, meaning there is less demand for gas on the system in Spain, said Kathryn Porter, an independent energy analyst.

Ms Porter said: “If you have a grid fault, it can cause a frequency imbalance, and in a low-inertia environment, the frequency can change much faster.

“If you have had a significant grid fault in one area, or a cyberattack, or whatever it may be, the grid operators therefore have less time to react. That can lead to cascading failures if you cannot get it under control quickly enough.

“The growing reliance on solar has pushed inertia on the grid to the point where it [becomes] more difficult to respond to disruptions such as significant transmission faults.”

…snip…

The European Union chief said that “at this point, there are no indications of any cyberattack” after a massive blackout hit Spain and Portugal.

Also :

Congrats to Spain! Nation goes 100% renewable as of April 16th 2025! – But…Then Mass Blackouts Hit Spain, Portugal

better to know...?

Wind Power Did Cause The Texas Blackouts!

by P. Homewood, Feb 22, 2021 in NotaLotofPeopleKnowThat

There has been a marked lack of data made public about last week’s blackouts in Texas, which has allowed all sorts of misinformation to fly around. I suspect this is quite deliberate.

I have however found hourly data on the US EIA website. This is what happened on those crucial couple of days:

https://www.eia.gov/beta/electricity/gridmonitor/expanded-view/electric_overview/US48/US48/GenerationByEnergySource-4/edit

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better to know...?

China Facing Winter Blackouts

by P. Homewood, Dec 23, 2020 in NotaLotofPeopleKnowThat

There’s an interesting story emerging from China:

BEIJING: Tens of millions across China are facing power shortages in below-freezing winter temperatures, as three provinces impose curbs on electricity use due to surging demand and a squeezed coal supply.

Residents, factories and businesses in Hunan, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces have been ordered to ration electricity with some areas citing a shortfall in coal supplies, according to local media reports and government notices.

China’s rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic has been driven by energy intensive industries such as construction, heaping pressure on the power grid and coal supplies, said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Earlier this month, Hunan authorities ordered all billboards and outdoor lighting on buildings to power off for long periods each day and a temperature cap on indoor heating at entertainment venues.

Hunan faces a shortfall of 3-4 million kilowatts of electricity this winter, local officials admitted last week, as demand soars due to unusually cold weather that will hit as low as -10°C.

Office workers in provincial capital Changsha complained on social media about being forced to climb dozens of flights of stairs and freezing indoor temperatures as a result of frequent power outages.

“My office heating has already been stopped, and there were blackouts on Dec 1, 3 and 5. Temperatures will drop to -8°C around New Year’s Day, will I freeze to death in Hunan?” one Weibo user wrote last week.

Meanwhile in Zhejiang province, factories in the manufacturing hub of Yiwu have been told to stop operations and streetlights have been turned off at night as part of an emissions-saving drive by the local government, according to media reports and photos circulated on Weibo.

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