So is Portugal, according to my friend who lives there.
Both Spain & Portugal had only weak interconnectivity with the rest of the European grid. Rather like the Texas grid in North America. Not too long ago, the Texas grid had a cascading failure during cold weather, causing much suffering in Texas. Since then, the public has been demanding that the Texas grid become more connected to the other North American grids.
It’s possible that after this failure, the Iberian (Spain & Portugal) will also increase their connectivity to the European grid – they have been operating in what is sometimes called ‘Island mode’ (rather like Ireland & Britain) to the European grid.
Generally, greater interconnectivity make the power more reliable, because there are more connections to the grid to compensate for cascading power interruptions.
As to why some areas, like Texas & the Iberian peninsula, prefer to operate as ‘islands’ rather than closely connect into the grid – “follow the money”.
The profit-making companies controlling electricity in those areas can make more money by being more isolated from the big grid.
Generators, in Spain? Perhaps in rural areas, but I never heard of anyone having one in the cities I lived in. When you read articles about how people are coping they are taking the children to granny, who has a gas stove, so the food os warm. They are not taking them to the weird uncle with the generator.
Another cultural reference I am not getting? Aw, come on, gimme a footnote… please.
Can confirm. My brother in law has a generator, but it is for a small house that is literally in the middle of nowhere, right in his fields (my brother in law has lands and they grow barley).
Actually my nephew said “maybe we could go get the generator…” and my brother in law said “are you daft? How are we going to lug a thing that weighs more than 100 kg up all the stairs to the flat?” (My sister, with whom I am right now, lives in a high-rise building in the main city in this area. Also, my nephew is 20).
I’ve been too busy to read too much news but it sounds like most of it is fixed?
Yes, it’s getting better all the time.
Thanks for the murder ballad reference, @Dr.Strangelove ! Will listen.
Here is an excellent explainer on the challenge of restarting a power grid after a sudden major failure like this.
So in probably related news, I got a message from my electricity supplier last night offering half price overnight.
I’m already on a cheap overnight tariff but the message was very clear: plug your car in, set the washing machine to come on overnight, splurge splurge splurge on this cheap electron bonanza. But also, please don’t do any of that tomorrow night (i.e. 29/04/25) or you won’t get the deal.
So it feels like some urgent load balancing of sorts was being done. That hasn’t happened on previous sunny days, so probably not a coincidence it happened in the aftermath of the Iberian powercut.
While the grid is technically a patchwork of smaller systems, the smaller grids that make up the major grids are tied together synchronously. When they tried to tie the east and west grids together into a single synchronous grid back in the late 60s or early 70s (somewhere around there, IIRC), they ran into oscillations and stability issues. The AC links between the two grids were removed and replaced with DC interties, which remain to this day.
Europe’s grid is slightly larger than either the east or west North American grids, but it’s not as large as both combined.
It might be possible to create a larger grid these days with modern technology that can overcome the stability issues, but back when I was in EE school (back in the days of dinosaurs) they taught us that a grid as large as the entire North American continent just wasn’t practical.
Sounds like this is a High Voltage DC transmission line. So technically not “joining the grid” in the sense that the AC power frequency is now going to be synchronized to it.
Not proud to say they could call Puerto Rico for pointers, where we’re doing this like twice a year by now…
If there’s one place that really needs microgrids, it’s Puerto Rico.
Better, Better, Better!
I may not be understanding a technical point you’re making, but all three grids in America already “operate at a synchronized frequency operating at an average of 60Hz.” They will continue to do so when the high power lines are built to move power in and out of Texas, just as they everywhere high power lines exist.
I believe each grid is internally synchronized. The DC interconnects allow each grid to remain asynchronous from the other grid connecting to it.
I see. “Joining the grid” is imprecise technical language but would be used in newspaper stories, e.g., so as not to frighten the public by talking about possible asynchronous damage. Would that be more accurate?
The grids are joined, but think of it as having a transmission in the middle. Your engine and wheels don’t need to spin at the same speed.
That is not correct. Although all North American interconnects operate with 60 Hz and 120 VAC, each interconnect ‘grid’ is independently synchronized and can only distribute electrical power between them via HVDC, inverting the incoming direct current to a synchronized alternating current.
As far as limitations on geographic extent, the (PRC) Chinese State Grid is one unified interconnect that has roughly the same geographic extent as the continental United States and ~1,700 GW of generation capacity, which is more than all of North America. The Unified Energy System grid has an even larger geographical extent covering essentially all of the Russian Federation as far east as Krasnoyarsk Krai, although I don’t think the generation capacity is nearly as large (can’t find any recent figures) and I suspect the grid thins out considerably once you get east of the Ob River.
Stranger
We do like our murder ballads here. It’s a catchy song even if the lyrics don’t make a whole lot of sense.
At the risk of a hijack, what doesn’t make sense? A man paid for his sister’s crime, and the sister sang a song about it, justifying her actions and critiquing the Georgia justice system at the same time. Her motivations don’t make a lot of sense (really? you murder your sister-in-law for cheating on your brother? That’s not the sign of a well-balanced person).