Search for the causes of the #blackout in #Spain and #Portugal are ongoing, will likely take some time, and (I suspect) will result at least one PhD thesis. Because major disasters like this never have a _single_ cause - several things have to go wrong for them to happen.
The _easy_ answer which I know is already going to be shared by The Usual Suspects is:
" #RenewableEnergy is too intermittent and our power grids cannot cope with them! We need to switch off #PV and #WindPower and return to a centralized power supply!"
And as usual, the easy answer is at the very least misleading, if not outright wrong. It _is_ true that renewable energy is more intermittent. But power grids can be made more robust to cope with that intermittency.
I don't know how this is done in Portugal and Spain, but here in Germany the #Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA, Federal Grid Agency) is in charge of regulating the German power grids. One of their recent efforts to make the German grid more stable is called "Redispatch 2.0".(*)
Under this scheme, the regional grid operators (Distribution System Operator, DSO) have to submit forecasts about their grids to the Transmission System Operators (TSO) - the companies that run the high- and ultra-high voltage power grids that connect different regions and countries with each other. These forecasts have to be submitted for 72 hours in advance, in 15 minute intervals, and be refreshed for every 15 minutes.
The TSOs can then aggregate all those forecasts and react in order to stabilize their grids. Options include:
If there is too much power generation, they can either reduce power generation or add some loads.
If there is too little power generation, they can either increase power generation or shut down some loads.
This should make it much more unlikely to trigger massive blackouts on that scale, or even smaller ones.
Another problem is that many PV installations, especially smaller ones, do not have the physical infrastructure to shut down if there is an excess of production - they just send their electricity into the grid, whether or not the grid can handle it. But this, too, is in the process of changing - it is now mandatory to install so-called Smart Meter Gateways with all such installations, and these gateways also have secure channels that can send control signals to the PV installation.
All this is still a work in process and not trivial by any means, but it _is_ possible to make power grids more resilient for renewable energy. And this is desperately needed for the #EuropeanUnion - we have little fossil fuels of their own, and most suppliers are increasingly authoritarian if not outright hostile to us. The sooner we get independent from outside energy sources, the better.
(*) Full disclosure: Redispatch 2.0-related products are a major product line for my employer.
#Renewables #PowerGrid #SolarEnergy
https://www.kyon-energy.de/en/glossar/redispatch-redispatch-2-0
Matthias Wiesmann 
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