Experts say it could take months to pinpoint the exact cause of the outage in Spain and Portugal, but there is already debate over whether renewable energy sources and the pursuit of net zero have been factors.
One word that keeps cropping up is “inertia”, in this case, the momentum provided in traditional power systems such as gas, coal, hydro or nuclear by large spinning turbines, which keeps the energy grid stable in the event of a power source failure.
However, Spain has placed a big emphasis on solar and wind power in recent years, and with renewables, there is not usually the same momentum built into the system.
Energy analyst John Kemp said: “The region has one of the world’s highest penetrations of renewable generation from wind and solar, so the blackout will be a case study of how renewable generators impact on reliability as well as restarting after widespread failure.”
Georg Zachmann, a senior fellow in energy and climate policy at the Brussels-based Bruegel think tank, told Yahoo News: “We do not yet know the root cause of the escalating oscillations. However, the escalation was likely facilitated by a lack of flexibility and/or inertia in the system.
“Pursuing net zero does not have to increase the risk of power outages – but of course it is a transition, and the system itself and its operation need to reflect the changes to operational environment when dealing with more wind and solar.”
