Spain’s Blackout and the Miracle of the Modern Power Grid

Last week, more than 50 million people across mainland Spain and Portugal suffered a blackout that lasted more than 10 hours and shuttered stores, halted trains, and dealt more than $1 billion in economic damage. At least eight deaths have been attributed to the power outage.

Almost immediately, some commentators blamed the blackout on the large share of renewables on the Iberian peninsula’s power grid. Are they right? How does the number of big, heavy, spinning objects on the grid affect grid operators’ ability to keep the lights on? 

On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Jesse and Rob dive into what may have caused the Iberian blackout — as well as how grid operators manage supply and demand, voltage and frequency, and renewables and thermal resources, and operate the continent-spanning machine that is the power grid. Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap, and Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University.

Mentioned: 

Spain’s Blackout Has Put in Motion a Debate Over Inertia

Spain Discloses New Power Grid Failure on Day of the Blackout

Shift Key: A Beginner’s Guide to the Interconnection Queue

Jesse’s upshift; Rob’s upshift.

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Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.

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