WIDE SPREAD BLACKOUTS IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.
Were net zero policies the cause?

On the 28th April 2025 there were widespread power outages in Spain and Portugal and even parts of France. Industry experts have suggested that there is a high likelihood that the extent of the blackout was a result of the Spanish grid operating almost entirely on renewables at the time. The stability of power grids depends on so-called ‘inertia’, a resistance to rapid change that is an inherent feature of large spinning turbines, such as gas-fired power stations, but not of wind and solar farms. Too much renewables capacity on a grid can therefore mean inadequate inertia. As a result, in grids dominated by wind and solar, faults can propagate almost instantaneously across grids, leading to blackouts.

The UK is now beginning experience increasing grid instability. The latest happened on Sunday 27th April 2025.

To read more go to: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/29/grid-operator-investigates-unusual-activity-spain-blackouts/

In a recent Net Zero Watch paper, entitled Blackout Risk in the GB Grid, energy system analyst Kathyn Porter pointed out that our own electricity system is also becoming increasingly unstable. Large fluctuations in grid frequency – the first sign of problems – are becoming much more common.

In the past four years, the upper operational [frequency] limit was breached around 500 times in each winter season…the number of such breaches has also been growing steadily, which is consistent with falling grid inertia…and a perception that the grid is becoming less reliable.

To download the full paper go to https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-papers/blackout-risk-in-the-gb-grid