Iberian Pain
What happened in Spain and Portugal last week?
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸?
There remains a lot of speculation about the true cause of the black out, and at times its tough to separate opinions from data. EPRI did a nice job in this webinar laying out what is visible in the public data and contextualizing what is known about the event.
Listening in reminded me of a few recurrent themes:
📍𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗱𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲. Case in point: the potential for new oscillations in the European grid due to integrating Latvia.
📍𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁. There are puts and takes for everything. What a bonus to be able to pull ~1,500 MW from France during the Spanish grid restoration.
📍𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀) 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀. Established assumptions can lead to emergent risks. For example, did existing protection setup create a vulnerability exposed by a changing system?
As more data becomes available in the coming days and weeks, we’ll get a clearer explanation of the cause and cascade of events, but for now I found this a helpful way to understand what is known.
Source | EPRI