Re: The Physics Behind the Spanish Blackout

On 9/06/2025 10:16 am, john larkin wrote:

On Sun, 08 Jun 2025 19:15:57 -0400, Joe Gwinn <joegwinn@comcast.net>
wrote:
 

>
The Physics Behind the Spanish Blackout, Bjorn Lomborg, Wall Street
Journal, 3 June 2025 issue, page A13.
>
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>
Here is a gift link.  No paywall, but they will insist on trying to
persuade you to subscribe.
>
.<https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-physics-behind-the-spanish-blackout-solar-and-wind-power-unstable-grid-8be54b2a?st=VUVUMR&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink>
>
Joe

 What's net zero is the line voltage. The issue is partly spinning
mass, but more important is gross gigawatts available on bad
afternoons.
 Another time bomb is that (cheap) solar panels and inverters and
batteries don't last as long as is assumed in payback calculations. In
10 or 15 years there will be an enormous disposal problem. And lots of
leaky roofs.

The Wall Street Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch, and the fossil carbon extraction business places enough advertising there that Rupert spreads their climate change denial propaganda for them.
The problem with the Spanish mainland grid was that they didn't have any grid-scale storage, no batteries and no pumped storage. This isn't what created the blackout - the network had 3.3 GW of generating capacity turn off in 30 seconds, which was clearly a control failure.
It hasn't stopped the fossil carbon extraction industry claiming that the renewable source generators were the problem, rather than the grid synchronising hardware.
The first grid scale battery ever deployed was the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, installed in November 2017 to solve exactly this grid stability problem. It worked a treat, and still does.
https://hornsdalepowerreserve.com.au/
Gullible suckers like John Larkin parrot the propaganda.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney