https://blackmon.substack.com/p/mass-blackouts-hit-spain-portugal?utm_medium=ios
Spain and Portugal, both of which generate a majority of their electricity with renewables, were simultaneously hit by widespread power outages on Monday, with no explanation immediately forthcoming about the cause. Some reports said the outages also hit some parts of France.
Cellular service and Internet were reported down throughout both countries, and airports lost power as well, according to sky news:
The extensive rail service in both countries was also impacted, and the metros in major cities like Madrid and Barcelona had to be evacuated:
Here’s an excerpt from a report at Sky News:
Large parts of Spain and Portugal – including Madrid and Lisbon – have been hit by a power outage.
Spanish power grid operator Red Electrica says it is working with energy companies to restore power.
The Spanish government has convened a crisis meeting at the offices of Red Electrica due to the outage, according to the El Pais newspaper in the country.
It comes as France briefly lost power following the outages in Spain and Portugal, French grid operator RTE said.
Parts of Madrid underground have been evacuated and traffic lights in the city are not working, according to local media.
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Play has been suspended at the Madrid Open tennis tournament due to the outage – with Britain’s Jacob Fearnley forced off court in a critical moment during his third-round tie with Grigor Dimitrov.
The loss of power affected scoreboards and the camera above the court.
Maddie Sephton, who is from west London, was on the Madrid Metro when the power outage occurred.
“We got on the train and everything was fine,” she told Sky News. “But then everything went dark.”
She was stuck on the train for 20 minutes until a staff member opened the doors manually.
Mrs Sephton says she was on her way to the airport at the time – and had to exit the station by hiking up 15 flights of stairs with her luggage.
“No lifts are operating – making it difficult for elderly people with limited mobility,” she added.
Above ground, she said that “everyone is just standing around and waiting”.
Bars are unable to take card payments, cash machines are down, and traffic lights aren’t working either.
“I currently don’t have any internet service and just €15 in my wallet – I can’t withdraw any money from the ATM,” she added.
“A couple have offered to let us get a ride in their taxi to the airport. Their flight is at 4.30pm so they’re pretty relaxed – but my flight back to London is at 3pm and I’m nervous.”
I’ll probably have more on this later today as more information is made public.
That is all for now.
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Bad things happen when you chop the power with no warning-
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I checked, last year around 26th April one of may solar chargers gave up.
This is the time of the year on northern hemisphere when solar power is highest. There is almost 100% of sunshine, while it is still cold and panels are running more efficiently.
Mine are giving around 110% of nameplate during cold and windy days.
Better start the Doomsday Clock for the UK grid as well.
Let’s call it: The first big blackout of the green electricity era
https://x.com/JavierBlas/status/1917192789097435598
And it won’t be the last big blackout by any means. However, for right now, we await the inevitable claim that the blackout event would have been worse if wind and solar hadn’t been present to shore up the grid.
My wife and I were on vacation in Spain from April 12 through 21, and there were no reports of power failures during that time on TV, and the power was on in all cities we visited (mostly along the north coast), so apparently the power failure was after April 21.
During our visit, we did not notice many wind turbines operating, nor many solar panels, so the reports about 100% renewable power are probably misleading.
Incidentally, the weather during our trip was mostly chilly and rainy, with even a little snow in the mountains, so it is unlikely that Spain got much power from the sun during that week.
The rain in Spain stayed mostly over our plane!
Maybe the million dollar question I want to throw out here:
“how much do you want to pay for a 24/7/365 reliable kWh?”
I’m sick and tired of all the hollow blabla battery BS backup eff you all talk I heard today. Most people seem to still haven’t heard the clear shot that fell yesterday in Spain.
PlandemicCoviSbelieveandignoranceBS all over again. 50Ct counter question:
“what will you do to set your own house on fire?”
…maybe that will clear people’s mind..or not/maybe/hopefully?
have a good night, may the last one turn off the lights unless there’s another blackout lol
I have my own build battery solar at home. Problems of On Grid solar systems are coming from intermittency. One second you have 120% of your nameplate the other 0%. This is not possible to counterbalance with gas or nuclear. If you have solar system with battery, then intermittency is equal to your battery size. Even 20 minutes of battery backup will give you enough time to react with gas power, maybe even nuclear.
Problem of solar is that you can not ramp it up when grid needs, but if you add battery into equation, it is not problem.
Indeed we learned a lot about how to go back to olden times and how to attempt to get out from a city that went bonkers and dead and cross a bridge before all the taxis (and buses) run out of fuel. A pedagogical opportunity.
Also how Civil Protection was oh so useless (we knew that before, but now we’re dead sure).
Kindly take notes.