Power cut signals how a reliance on renewables is dim

THE widespread powercuts in Spain and Portugal this week caused chaos and exposed the risks of switching almost entirely to electricity to power our way of life — plus the possible perils of a wholly renewable energy supply.

- Tim Newark

Spain had upped its wind and solar power when blackouts struck, just days after its grid ran entirely on green power for the first time. And while it is too early to know definitively what caused the catastrophic Iberian outage, clearly the ability to fall back on other forms of energy generation like gas could have mitigated the impact of the cuts.

The suspicion is falling on its rising use of renewable energy, with solar and wind reaching a peak of 64% of generation earlier this week before the crash. With a cyber attack ruled out, it’s also been suggested that extreme temperatures might be to blame — but the weather was no warmer than in the UK.

What no one wants to question is Spain’s huge reliance on renewables, as so much capital and political will has been invested in the net zero project. Neither the EU nor the Leftwing media want this to be the explanation.