It is getting very dark
A reliance on net zero energy left Spain and Portugal vulnerable to a mass blackout engulfing the region. In what is believed to be Europe’s largest power cut, tens of millions of people were left without electricity, while flights were grounded, trains halted and whole cities left without power, internet access or other vital services. (1)
The key culprit for the blackout appears to be green energy. Green energy, unlike gas and coal, does not provide synchronous inertia that stabilizes the frequency in the network. (2)
A random oscillation of some sort, which could have easily been handled in a world of fossil fuel power plants, became a huge problem when wind and solar generators could not respond to it appropriately. And so, people were stuck for hours in elevators or subway trains; traffic lights went dark, banking and cell phone networks stopped working and so forth.
So, was this really a big deal? The electricity system in Europe and many US states is in the hands of crazed fanatics who have no idea what they are doing. The possibility is that there are many far worse blackouts to come until the idiotic net zero thing is abandoned. (3)
The episode underscores how advanced economies also cannot afford to be complacent about their electricity resilience.
Here are some tentative conclusions Roger Pielke Jr. draws:
The overreaching lesson to take from Spain’s blackout is that whatever role in electricity generation that solar and wind have in the future, that role should be built on a foundation of nuclear power, supplemented by dispatchable natural gas. Somehow, it’s doubtful that the Iberian blackout will be the last one due to low system inertia.
Spain was warned well before the outage across the Iberian Peninsula that it risked severe energy blackouts due to its reliance on renewable energy.
Many experts highlighted potential vulnerabilities in green energy systems, a concern some argued was overlooked by a progressive Spanish government heavily invested in the green energy transition. (5)
In the aftermath of the blackout, Spain has significantly increased its reliance on natural gas-fired power plants to stabilize its electricity grid. (6)
Other Places Around the World
Chile also saw a massive blackout in 2025 and Ukraine’s grid was targeted by hackers twice. Bangladesh, Pakistan, Argentina, and India have all experienced nationwide blackouts in the last decade. In Texas in 2021, millions froze in the dark when cold weather crushed an overconfident system. (7)
Britain’s rush to net zero could leave it vulnerable to months-long blackouts, as reliance on intermittent renewables strains the grid, escalating costs and jeopardizing energy security. (8)
The Danes took note of the massive power outage that cut off electricity for the whole of Spain and neighboring Portugal plus some of southern France. The problem was that there was no reliable base power such as nuclear energy running on the grid at the time. Instead, those countries had to rely on frequently unstable renewable energy, such as solar and wind. After four decades of Denmark’s ban on nuclear power, the country is now considering reversing its anti-atomic stance. And that move may be part of a big change in how electricity gets generated in Europe. (9)
The city of Cannes was hit by a five-hour power outage ahead of the film festival’s awards ceremony, with electricity finally returning around 3:30 p.m. local time. The closing ceremony proceeded as planned after organizers switched to portable generators. (10)
Hardly a week goes by without reports regarding the growing threat of electricity blackouts in the US. The problem is not limited to just one region of the country it spreads across two-thirds of it. While the blackouts in Texas and California are the most obvious examples of the reliability cliff, they are no longer alone. Central US may be short of power and much of the western US is also at risk. New York’s and New England’s vulnerability to disruption, especially in winter, is real and troubling. (11)
For years, energy and security experts have cautioned that reliance on Chinese products for green energy could expose US to espionage and security risks. Rogue communication devices not listed in product documents were found in solar power inverters and batteries from several Chinese suppliers.
If the rogue communication devices are used to circumnavigate firewalls and change the settings or turn off inverters remotely, this could destabilize power grids, damage energy technology and prompt blackouts. (12)
Over-enthusiastic deployment of unreliable solar and wind power was the fulcrum that put 55 million people in the dark for days. Few politicians will want to risk allowing something like that to happen again, anywhere. And as the North American Electric Reliability Corporation keeps warning, blackout risks are rising here, and for the same reason.
What all this means is that whatever one believes about the science of the climate, the fact is that mandates and subsidies can’t change the physics of energy systems. Systems that can deliver reliable power at the scales necessary for robust growth remain anchored in precisely the fuels the alarmists want to abandon. (13)
Read next: Federal Clean Power Plan Risks Blackouts And Higher Bills
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