Sometimes, coincidences are just coincidences . . .
Sometimes, coincidences are just coincidences, but the timing of these two events is not helpful for those advancing the case for renewables, or, come to think of it, the electrification of everything.
Here’s the first.
Spain’s grid ran entirely on renewable energy for the first time on April 16, with wind, solar, and hydro meeting all peninsular electricity demand during a weekday. Five days later, solar set a new record, generating 20,120 MW of instantaneous power – covering 78.6% of demand and 61.5% of the grid mix.
Wind was around 45 percent of the total.
Here’s the second.
Spain and Portugal were hit by a major power outage on Monday, bringing to a halt daily activity throughout the two countries, with businesses shutting down along with trains, subways and airline flights.
Officials did not say what caused the outage, which affected tens of millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula, but several denied any foul play.
“At this point, there are no indications of any cyberattack,” António Costa, the president of the European Council, wrote in a post on X.
Portuguese energy authorities said the outage occurred following a disruption in the European grid, but did not provide details. After a report that an unspecified “atmospheric phenomenon” had caused the outage, REN, a Portuguese electricity and gas supplier, vigorously denied that was the reason.
We’ll find out the cause in due course. To stress, it may have nothing to do with the Iberian addiction to renewables.
Bloomberg’s invaluable Javier Blas (a must-read for me, even when I don’t agree with him) nevertheless took the opportunity to re-up a recent article about the challenges posed by reworking energy systems in a way designed to ensure that “everything” is electrified (which is not yet the case in the Iberian peninsula) and that the electricity comes from renewable sources.
There’s a lot to consider (try to read the whole thing if you can get behind the paywall), but one central issue, as so often in this context, is intermittency (the sun doesn’t always shine, the wind doesn’t always blow) and how that is compatible (or not) with running a reliable grid.
Blas quotes from a confidential report produced by the International Energy Agency (IEA), a once-respectable body that jumped too eagerly onto the climate bandwagon, but has expertise and data that continue to be of interest. Apparently, the IEA now concedes that “systemic challenges will emerge from balancing increasingly renewable-dominated grids during extended low-generation periods.”
Blas:
In plain English: It’s unclear how the grid will work when the weather isn’t helping. That’s a reality that the IEA — and renewable advocates — have long downplayed. It’s refreshing that’s now acknowledged openly.
There’s an additional headache. Under pressure to meet green targets, utilities are shutting down so-called dispatchable power plants that can be turned on and off on demand, like atomic reactors and coal- and gas-fired plants. Germany, which shut all its nuclear power stations, is a textbook example. “Current vulnerabilities stem from premature retirement of dispatchable generation without adequate replacements,” the IEA warned…
[Another] risk is the special nature of electricity. Supply and demand of electrons must match every second, every minute, every hour, every day. The coal, gas, and oil markets have many buffers and stockpiles, smoothing out any glitches. Electricity doesn’t have that luxury. That makes the system more vulnerable. A pylon that goes down can trigger a regional blackout; a cyberattack can disconnect large swatches of the network.
Speaking of Germany, here’s the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board from yesterday:
Germany has invested so many hundreds of billions of euros in its green energy transition over the years that no one can tally the precise amount. Yet the share of wind and solar power in the country’s energy mix in the first quarter of this year managed to fall—by a lot. There’s a lesson for the U.S. here.
Renewable sources made up some 47% of electricity consumption in Europe’s largest economy in the first three months of 2025, the energy trade association BDEW reported Thursday. That’s down from 56% in the first three months of 2024. The drop comes despite Germany’s continuing build-out of renewable generation. The country has added 872 wind turbines with a capacity of 4.3 gigawatts since April 2024, yet wind-power output fell 16%. Ouch.
The reason for the shortfall was the dreaded Dunkelflaute (a seasonal period of low winds and gloom), supplemented this year by the impact of less than expected rainfall on Germany’s hydropower. There’s a reason why a good marker of humanity’s progress is a reduction of its reliance on capricious “mother” nature.
Meanwhile, as part of its maneuvering to form a governing coalition without the AfD (parts of which are genuinely “far right”) and loosen Germany’s constitutionally-enshrined debt brake” (a more or less balanced budget provision), the center-right CDU/CSU (the parties behind incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz) supported legislation — pushed by the Greens — which incorporated Germany’s existing commitment to reach net zero by 2045 into the country’s constitution, an act of self-destructive insanity. The Greens want to make it very difficult to backtrack on that commitment and, doubtless, will also appreciate the opportunity for the related green-tinged lawfare that embedding it into the constitution will offer, a tactic so much easier than asking the voters for their thoughts.
Relaxing the debt brake will allow Germany to spend more on defense, but there will also be a €500 billion fund for infrastructure and climate-related spending. Of that, €100 billion will go towards helping pay for the Drang nach net zero, which will include yet more spending on renewable energy, but nothing on nuclear.
Good luck with that.