Two weeks ago, tens of millions on the Iberian Peninsula lost electricity. While the reason for the disturbance could take years to discern, it’s likely that no single cause led to the blackout. Previous issues of this type and magnitude resulted from a confluence of mishaps and misfortune. If the American experience is any gauge, a final assessment of the event won’t be available for a while.
The Iberian event is a reminder of how fast things happen in the world of electricity. Unlike other utilities, such as gas or water, electricity is consumed immediately. In order to protect equipment from voltage or frequency variations that could harm mechanics or electronics, power plant operators, utilities, and large customers install technology that disconnects facilities from the grid when things go awry. Advancements in these technologies mean that disconnections can occur nearly instantaneously. This is what happened in Spain and Portugal, where power plants—some large enough to serve more than a million homes—disconnected from the grid when they sensed it was out of sync, ironically making the system even more unstable. A cascading process of generation and load rapidly disconnecting from the grid exacerbated its imbalance, resulting in a complete blackout.
Read more from the R Street Institute here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
