https://archive.ph/zPv2u
The guardian is free to read. Why post an archive link ?
Their script is over active. Not sure why people are harvesting HN likes.
After Spain's blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on
31–40 of 44 posts
Re: After Spain's blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on
#32Unrelated to the cause but I just want to say, actually experiencing it in Barcelona was thrilling. No lights in the streets, just illuminated by strategically placed police cars. Everyone out meeting their neighbours, playing music on their phones, playing card games, bars giving away their drinks. It was a real communal event. Like going back to a simpler time that hasn't actually existed in modern times. Maybe we…
If you would have a family member having a scheduled chemotherapy treatment for that day the thrill would be gone. Not every day is great for the chill out.
Yes obviously
Re: After Spain's blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spain is a leader in Hydro. Why they don’t use their dams for storage ?
Spain does have few (probably 4 according to ESP Wikipedia) pumped-storage hydroelectricity plants. Supposedly these are being used nowadays to store excess of energy produced by fotovoltaic plants. No idea how fast these can switch from storing energy to producing it and if these were used to help during the blackout.
> No idea how fast these can switch from storing energy to producing it and if these were used to help during the blackout.
Typically ~10 seconds.
The bigger issue is if these have blackstart capability. (IE, if they can switch to generation when there is a blackout, or if they need power from the grid to start.)
Re: After Spain's blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on
#34Unrelated to the cause but I just want to say, actually experiencing it in Barcelona was thrilling. No lights in the streets, just illuminated by strategically placed police cars. Everyone out meeting their neighbours, playing music on their phones, playing card games, bars giving away their drinks. It was a real communal event. Like going back to a simpler time that hasn't actually existed in modern times. Maybe we…
If you would have a family member having a scheduled chemotherapy treatment for that day the thrill would be gone. Not every day is great for the chill out.
what is the point of this comment?
Re: After Spain's blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on
#35That article is a piece of horseshit. It was indeed the renewables (too much of them) that caused the blackout, as independent and regulatory investigations have revealed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iberian_Peninsula_blackou...
Re: After Spain's blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you would have a family member having a scheduled chemotherapy treatment for that day the thrill would be gone. Not every day is great for the chill out.
what is the point of this comment?
A quick check at comment history shows a few replies with cancer as the main topic. My guess would be the nature of the topic being on top of op's mind; adding the worst-case scenario of how a city-wide power outage would affect them (painting a realistic picture of life that is not all song and dance and free drinks as laid out by the original op).
Be safe and well op.
Re: After Spain's blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on
#37I found this video by Modo Energy interesting on why Spain has so little battery right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CwB38oLEYM Solar Saturation & Grid Collapse: Spain's BESS Opportunity - Modo Energy
Absolutely fascinating. Now watching some of the others in the series.
Re: After Spain's blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on
#38That article is a piece of horseshit. It was indeed the renewables (too much of them) that caused the blackout, as independent and regulatory investigations have revealed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iberian_Peninsula_blackou...
From the specific section you linked:
> Chair of the ENTSO-E Board of Directors, stated: "The problem is not renewable energy, but voltage control, regardless of the type of generation"
Re: After Spain's blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So renewables didn't cause the blackout per the author, but according to the neutral report [0], solar and wind exacerbated the blackout. So, what caused the blackput?
It is a complex system. There is no single cause. There's a multitude of causes. The root cause tree with its multiple roots on page 23 is a good start.
That report concentrates on the forensics, but it doesn't really look at any of the root causes which were failures at the regulatory or political level. The Spanish electricity network was designed such that it would fail.
Working out why the regulator failed is no easy task. And fixing regulators is highly political.
You might compare against another country that successfully integrated massive solar systems such as Australia. They had a functional regulatory environment that designed their systems to handle the supply changes. Some of that was through world leading deployment of battery systems to help regulate their network.
There is a lot of specialist expertise (e.g. nera.com economic consultants) that is paid by a countries network operator to design their networks and markets. The staff within individual countries either lack sufficient analytical skills or lack sufficient political clout to make their networks deeply resilient.
Re: After Spain's blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on
#40You should read the report, its a good description of a complex system failing complexly. (well the reasons leading up to it failing were complex) The interesting thing about spain's grid is that it doesn't have that much battery compared to say the UK (the uk has about 11 gwhr which is about enough to power the entire uk for around 20mins) The Iberian grid has There is currently a large lucrative market in grid scal…
Spain is a leader in Hydro. Why they don’t use their dams for storage ?
they do it all the time