DesignRage/Shutterstock Save for later Print Download Share Renewable energy critics were quick to blame solar power for the spectacular blackout that hit Spain and Portugal for several hours on Apr. 28. They were equally fast to blame wind after outages in South Australia and Texas in September 2016 and February 2021, which later proved to be caused mainly by other factors 鈥� including poor transmission infrastructure and insufficient winterization of gas-fired power plants. Large blackouts 鈥� mirroring plane crashes, to which they are often compared 鈥� are usually triggered by a single event. This could involve the loss of a high voltage line or a power plant, followed by a chain reaction of further failures and outages. Solutions to prevent blackouts are well known and not insurmountable. But such mass power outages do provide lessons learned 鈥� with the Iberian blackout, for example, exposing a gap in battery storage capacity.
