It has been a month since the Iberian blackout. No report describing the cause has been issued but the predominance of evidence is a lack of mechanical inertia was available to stabilize the grid. The power generation ratio was 71% renewable, which lacks inertia, and 29% dispatchable which possesses inertia.
The importance of inertia and the upsetting forces a grid continually experiences are described here
`https://judithcurry.com/2025/05/05/casting-blame-for-the-blackout-in-spain-portugal-and-parts-of-france/
and here
The renewable advocates initially claimed atmospheric oscillations caused the blackout but no explanation was provided how these oscillations caused the power shutdown and why the grid was unable to resist them.
The renewable advocates acknowledge that inertia is a problem but electrical inverters are capable of maintaining grid stability
In fact, renewable energy is not intrinsically unreliable, according to NREL’s report, ARPA-E scientists and other experts. Solar, wind and battery systems can be designed and equipped with devices and software that provide the fast response needed for dangerous grid upsets.
 ARPA-E’s Garcia-Sanz directs a research initiative named Gradients that seeks to develop major new solutions for grid reliability challenges when disruptions start. Advanced inverters coupled with stored energy will deliver the same instantaneous support that coal and gas inertia provide now, he said.
 The answer is not to simply return to heavy fossil, nuclear or hydropower generation to supply inertia, he added.
The Spanish Prime minister has announced the shutdown of twenty nuclear plants over the next few years will continue. Since the nukes provide the primary grid inertia, the shutdown implies blackouts are not a government concern. However, the grid operator seems to disagree. When the grid collapsed, reliable generation was 11% nuclear, 5% gas and 10% hydro with about 75% unreliable wind and solar. Solar was about 59% and wind 12%. The grid is currently operating with 14-23% nuclear and up to 25% gas. The percent numbers change continually as solar intensity and wind speed change.
The developing inertia war is the code word for electricity reliability and poor reliability is the sign of a declining society.
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