The great Iberian power cut need not spell disaster for renewables

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on The Economist or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: On April 28, Spain's electricity grid suffered a sudden loss of 15 gigawatts—equivalent to 60% of national demand — leading to widespread blackouts across Spain and Portugal
• Critical infrastructure including hospitals, public transport, and communication networks were severely disrupted, highlighting vulnerabilities in the region’s power systems

🔭 The context: Spain and Portugal have been leaders in renewable energy adoption, with high shares of wind and solar power integrated into their grids
• However, the increasing complexity and decentralization of renewable energy systems require sophisticated grid management
• Monday's blackout exposed the system’s fragility when faced with sudden, large-scale disruptions, particularly in balancing renewable supply with demand.

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The incident underscores that while renewables are crucial for decarbonization, robust grid infrastructure, storage solutions, and real-time balancing mechanisms are essential to ensure reliability
• A failure to address these vulnerabilities could fuel skepticism about renewable scalability and delay broader clean energy transitions at a critical time for climate action

⏭️ What's next: Spanish and Portuguese authorities are launching investigations to determine the cause of the failure and prevent future incidents
• Energy regulators are expected to push for accelerated investment in smart grids, battery storage, and grid interconnections
• Lessons from this event will likely influence European energy resilience strategies, especially as renewables expand across the continent

💬 One quote: "This is a wake-up call that the energy transition must go hand in hand with investments in resilience and system stability," — energy consultant cited by The Economist

📈 One stat: Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity in minutes — equivalent to 60% of national demand—triggering one of the largest blackouts in recent European history

See on illuminem's Data Hub™ the sustainability performance of Red Eléctrica and its peers Iberdrola, and REN

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