Probably too early to say what definitive cause was. As you probably know, and may identify with yourself, there is a segment of the population that abhor changes or any new technology. There are sites that specifically feed on that way of thinking. That’s why it’s important to use reputable sources.
REE, which is headed by former Socialist minister Beatriz Corredor, has narrowed down the source of the outage to two separate incidents of loss of generation in substations in southwestern Spain, but says it has yet to identify their exact location and that it is too early to explain what caused them.
Energy Minister Sara Aagesen said the government had given power companies a deadline of late on Wednesday to provide data for “every millisecond during those five seconds” when the system on Monday experienced a huge loss of generation, triggering a disconnection from the rest of Europe.
At the moment, it is unknown. This will be studied over the next few months and then released to the public. Any claim made now lacks verified data and is political posturing.
My 2 cents…y’all can scroll past if not of interest.
From what I understand, Spain’s power grid base capacity is about 40% renewables (wind, solar, etc.). The Reuter’s article posted by NRG above indicates that at the time of the blackout, about 64% of generation was wind and solar.
In this case I can see a scenario where if enough wind and solar underperforms** due to various environmental conditions, while demand remains high, leads to grid instability. The remaining “spinning” power sources (steam and gas turbine-generators) can’t tolerate under-frequency variations as it’s an indicator of overload conditions.
The protective relaying systems on the remaining power sources will likely trip units offline to prevent damage. The transmission line tie to France was likely not enough to maintain stability and also tripped to avoid overload damage. It appears a fast cascading effect (5 seconds) occurred as a result of a large power block going offline very quickly not giving operators enough time to shed load manually. I’m guessing the authorities are trying to figure out exactly what power block(s) went down and why.
I’m of the understanding Iberia does not have a significant grid-level BESS (battery energy storage system) infrastructure. IMHO, BESS would have probably kept the blackout from being so widespread…maybe even prevented it if enough battery capacity was on standby. Especially on a grid with such high reliance on wind/solar. I believe there was loss of life so sad to see that.
I have no idea what caused this but looks like all is back up and running. Glad to see that and hope my Spanish cousins are celebrating with nice paellas and sangria. Very interested to see the outcome of the investigation.
**NOT intending to bash renewables…it’s an important part of the future energy mix. Any power source has the potential to underperform and outright fail…see Texas President’s Day 2023. I admire the Españoles for their commitment to renewables.
Nuclear power plants work. Renewable may but they still depend on fossil fuels. Nuclear power plant is undeniably the best choice. Why is it that we are not involved in more nuclear power plants?
It comes down to expense to build, operate, and decommissioning costs.
And spent fuel storage we still haven’t settled on.
There is also TMI, Chernobyl, and Fukushima.
I’m all for nuclear, but it needs to be cheaper and more fault tolerant.
Despite the initial hype, SMR’s haven’t seem to achieve those goals either.
FWIW, the US has the most nuclear power plants in the world with 93 (2023)
and generates the most electricity from them. However, overall that’s only about
18% of US electricity total.
Too early to tell if this is the case (ie demand response / gen supply imbalance)
It could also have been poor voltage stability similar to the '03 outage in the northeast, or smaller scale outages that occured in west texas (lack of voltage ride through at select solar facility inverters resulted in a small cascade event, i believe. This has since been corrected. I could he wrong in understanding).
I suspect this event is not straight forward in understanding like the '21 freeze event (purely weather rating of nearly all levels of generation and supply facilities being insufficient) , but something much more nuanced. We will see over the next few months.
Also, regarding the BESS capacity, if we are pointing the finger at Spain on this topic, then we ourselves must look in the mirror. Our energy storage capacity levels have not yet reached the levels you see in places like California (although this is quickly charging). TEF projects (generally, quick start gas facilities) are also going to start coming online next year, which will help as well. But i do not believe we are any different to spain at this time, regarding energy storage, but this is quickly changing.
How old are U.S. nuclear power plants, and when was the newest one built?
The average age of U.S. commercial nuclear power reactors that were operational as of April 30, 2024, is about 42 years. The oldest operating reactor is Nine Mile Point Unit 1 in New York State, which entered commercial service in December 1969. The newest reactor to enter service is Vogtle Unit 4 at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia that began commercial operation on April 29, 2024. The next-youngest operating reactor is Vogtle Unit 3, which began commercial electricity generation in July 2023.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses new commercial nuclear reactors to originally operate for 40 years. Before expiration of the original license, licencees can apply for a 20-year operating license extension. The NRC may subsequently grant a third 20-year operating license extension for a total operational life of 80 years.
The United States has the largest nuclear power plant fleet in the world, with 93 reactors that can generate approximately 95,522 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Nuclear power has accounted for about 20% of annual U.S. electricity generation since the late 1980s; in 2020 it was 19.7%. However, the U.S. nuclear power industry in recent years has been facing economic and financial challenges, particularly plants located in competitive power markets where natural gas and renewable power generators influence wholesale electricity prices.
Bingo nuclear is j incredibly expensive and time consuming to bring online, long time to turn a profit. You can only really do it via government commitment and action. Either by footing the bill, or guaranteeing a monopoly to how the original grid was built out.
I wish battery tech was more advanced and cost effective than it is. Not quite ready to buy an EV but I do see one in the future. The intermittent nature of wind and solar to me screams for the need to have a stable complementary power source whether battery storage or conventional.
Hopefully, Spain will come out of this episode better for it. If it turns out more power sources are needed, I’d be very surprised if they do a 180 and deploy fossil fuel generation. SMRs and natrium (sodium) could also be options though enthusiasm appears to have cooled a bit. This thing has the potential to be seminal case study in the design of countrywide grid scale renewables.
