Lights out in Spain, Portugal, France??

Shellenberger:

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It was one of the largest peacetime blackouts Europe has ever seen. And it was not random. It was not an unforeseeable event. It was the exact failure that many of us have been, repeatedly, warning lawmakers about for years — warnings that Europe’s political leaders systematically chose to ignore.

While Portugal’s grid operator REN initially blamed the mass blackout on “extreme temperature variations” and a “rare atmospheric phenomenon,” and while some media repeated that framing, the reality is more serious. Weather may have triggered the event, but it was not the cause of the system’s collapse.

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When the disturbance occurred, Spain’s grid, running mostly on solar, wind, and a handful of nuclear plants, could not absorb the hit. With so little inertia online, frequency plummeted. Protection systems kicked in automatically, disconnecting plants to prevent equipment damage. Disconnections triggered more instability, causing more plants to trip offline in a vicious cycle. Within minutes, the entire Spanish and Portuguese grids collapsed.

Spain’s blackout wasn’t just a technical failure. It was a political and strategic failure.

It was the predictable result of ignoring clear, repeated warnings about how fragile the modern grid was becoming.

People will rightly note that things could have been done to prevent this, but the underlying point remains: large quantities of renewables make the grid unstable, potentially catastrophically so.

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LINK

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WTF is this rare atmospheric phenomenon?

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Shellenberger

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is good at his job.

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Spain’s grid, running mostly on solar, wind, and a handful of nuclear plants

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This would have been the US eventually as well if we didn't vote the communist party out of the White House

system protection on very high voltage lines operates in the speed of 10-12 frequency cycles. Thats right, stuff trips off by design in 1/5 of a second.

Thats why system inertia, power factor, spinning reserve must be designed in. The greens have never understood the laws of science.

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The EU should shut down all power from 7pm until 7am

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You jest, but some countries in Europe, like the UK are considering putting nighttime driving bans into effect because Nanny thinks it's too dangerous.

There's some arguing it's something more intentional...

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If the results of these blackouts do somehow pull Ukraine deeper in the fold (as a useful/necessary partner) as this guy suggests, and as the tweet from a Ukrainian official he reposts suggests (saying Ukraine is ready to assist in restoring power), then he may have a point... as far as it being intentional. "Rare atmospheric" conditions / temp fluctuations sounds like a flimsy excuse.

I wouldn't jump on that bandwagon just yet, but it's worth mentioning since every crisis is an opportunity. Will take time to see how this potentially plays out.

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Euro Socialism. Spain and Portugal are f'ing basket cases.

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but just catching up on alerts to find swepco sent northwest lossey anna into darkness