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IOL News
06-05-2025
- Science
- IOL News
Spain's blackout highlights renewables' grid challenge
Play at the Madrid Open was cancelled on Monday after a widespread power outage struck the Spanish capital. If a power plant fails or if electricity demand increases too quickly, they help stabilise the grid by releasing the kinetic energy stored in the rotors. Image: Oscar Del Pozo, AFP The cause of last week's massive power outage in Spain and Portugal remains unclear but it has shone a spotlight on solar and wind energy, which critics accuse of straining electricity grids. The rise of renewables presents a challenge for power grids, which must evolve to adapt as countries move away from fossil fuels. Maintaining stability Grid operators must ensure that electricity is constantly balanced between demand and supply. A metric of this balance is the frequency of the electricity flowing through the grid, set at 50 hertz (Hz) in Europe and 60 Hz in the United States. If that number drifts too far off, it can jeopardise the grid. Historically, the electricity system has relied on conventional power plants - gas, coal, nuclear and hydroelectric -- that use spinning turbines to generate electricity. These machines keep the frequency stable. With their gigantic rotors spinning at high speed, they provide inertia to the system. If a power plant fails or if electricity demand increases too quickly, they help stabilise the grid by releasing the kinetic energy stored in the rotors. Instead of spinning machines, solar and wind farms use electronic systems that feed power into the grid, making it harder to maintain that delicate balance. Renewable energy will have to do more than provide carbon-free electricity in the future, said Jose Luis Dominguez-Garcia, an electrical systems expert at the Catalonia Energy Research Institute (IREC). They will have to "assist the system with additional controls to support the grid, particularly in inertia terms", he said. Marc Petit, professor of electrical systems at top French engineering school CentraleSupelec, argued that moving away from fossil fuels would make hydroelectric and nuclear power plants "even more essential for stabilising the system" as they use rotating machines. Flywheels A range of technical solutions already exist to compensate for renewables' lack of inertia and hence to support grid stability. These include gravity storage, cryogenic liquid air, compressed air and concentrated solar power. As it undergoes a transition away from coal, Britain is banking on flywheels, a tried and tested system. Surplus power from solar and wind farms is used to make the large wheels turn, creating kinetic energy. This stored energy can then be converted to provide electricity to the grid if needed. No sun or wind Just before the massive blackout on April 28, wind and solar power provided 70 percent of Spain's electricity output. But renewables are intermittent sources of energy as they rely on nature. When the wind stops blowing or the sun is hiding, other sources have to step in within minutes, or there need to be adequate systems for storing -- and then releasing -- renewables in place. Depending on the country, backup supply currently comes from mainly thermal power plants (gas or coal), nuclear reactors or hydroelectricity. To handle the ups and downs of renewable power, countries must ramp up storage capacity. The most widespread method is pumped storage hydropower from water reservoirs. But large stationary batteries, akin to shipping containers, are increasingly being deployed alongside wind and solar farms -- a segment dominated by China. To meet the global goal of tripling renewable capacity by 2030, storage capacity will have to increase sixfold, with batteries doing 90 percent of the work, according to the International Energy Agency. Another way to ease pressure on the system would be to shift electricity use -- for example when you charge your car battery -- to the middle of the day, when solar power is at its peak. Rescale the network Widespread blackouts "have virtually always been triggered by transmission network failures, not by generation, renewables or otherwise", said Mike Hogan, advisor with the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), an NGO whose stated goal is to achieve a clean, reliable, equitable and cost-efficient energy future. Tens of billions of euros, perhaps hundreds of billions, will be needed to renovate ageing power lines and replace them with new ones that are more powerful. The need to modernise or expand the lines is pressing as energy-hungry data centres are growing and factories are increasingly consuming electricity. Countries also need to strengthen interconnections between their power systems. Such cross-border links helped to restore power to Spain as France stepped in to share electricity during the blackout. By 2028, exchange capacity between the two neighbours is expected to increase from 2.8 to 5.0 gigawatts, reducing the peninsula's relative electrical isolation. AFP
Irish Times
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Power outage latest: Investigation into how millions in Spain and Portugal were left without electricity
Investigations were ongoing on Monday to determine the exact cause of a widespread electricity blackout that cut off power to millions of people across Spain and Portugal , leading to huge disruption as authorities battled to restore power. Passengers in cities were temporarily left stranded on metros, subways and trains. Roads became gridlocked as traffic lights stopped working. Mobile phone services dropped, hampering communication. [ Spain declares state of emergency; Portugal grid operator says issue caused by rare phenomenon ] The power cut hit both countries' capitals, Madrid and Lisbon, as well as other cities, regions and towns. Spain declared a nationwide state of emergency as authorities worked to restore public services and minimise the upheaval caused by the outages. The exact cause of the blackout had not been confirmed on Monday. READ MORE The widespread outages shut off cash machines, causing further disruption to many of the 50 million people who live across the Iberian Peninsula. The Portuguese electricity network said the outage began shortly before noon. Operators in Spain and Portugal reported they had begun to restore power to limited areas by late afternoon, with wider parts of the countries reconnected by the evening. Passengers wait at the Atocha railway station, Madrid, on Monday. Photograph: Oscar Del Pozo/Getty In a series of warnings, the Portuguese government advised the public to avoid unnecessary travel. 'The government is working with the relevant authorities to restore power,' it said. The immediate priority was the health service and critical infrastructure, the government said. Extra police were deployed to the streets to keep order and direct traffic, given traffic lights were affected by the outages. The government said cyber security officials had indicated there was 'no evidence' that the power supply had been knocked out by a cyber attack. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez said the government still did not have 'conclusive information' about the cause of the power cuts. 'It's better not to speculate. We will know the causes, we're not ruling out any hypothesis,' he told a press conference. 'We are aware of the relevance and tremendous impact of what's happening today, of the seriousness for people's everyday lives, of economic losses for businesses, companies and industries, of the anxiety that it's causing in thousands of homes.' Spanish power distributor Red Electrica estimated that restoring power fully to the country and neighbouring Portugal could take up to 10 hours. Spanish airports were operating on backup electrical systems and some flights were delayed, according to Aena, the company that runs many airports in Spain, including those in Madrid and Barcelona. The outages also briefly affected a part of France bordering northeastern Spain. A screen of delayed flights at Tenerife North Airport on Monday. Photograph: Manaure Quintero/Getty The power outage is likely to propel questions about Europe's energy security on to the agenda of a gathering of centre-right political leaders that is taking place today in blackout-hit Valencia. Tánaiste Simon Harris is among those travelling to the congress of the European People's Party (EPP), the centre-right EU political grouping that includes Fine Gael . European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz , as well as a number of prime ministers, are due to attend the two-day political conference. Spanish authorities assured organisers of the event in Valencia that power would be restored by midnight on Monday. The operator of Dublin Airport said it was operating as normal, but the power outage in parts of Spain and Portugal affected some flight schedules. As of 8pm on Monday, there were 13 flight cancellations: two inbound from each of Lisbon, Faro and Seville, and a total of seven outbound, including two to Faro and one to each of Lisbon, Marrakesh, Santiago, Madrid and Alicante. The airport advised passengers to check directly with airlines for flight updates, as it said 'further disruption over the remainder of this evening and tomorrow are possible'. – Additional reporting by news agencies
