INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
While the grids in Spain and Portugal are connected to each other, they have limited connections to elsewhere
The only sources of external power to the grid come from France and Morocco, which are small connections, but they could be used to help
Both blacked-out countries have significant hydropower, with Spain seeing it cover 10 percent of its demand and Portugal 25 percent
That's useful because hydro plants need very little in the way of an external power supply to start operating.Beyond that, both countries
have invested heavily in renewables, with Portugal supplying about half of its power from wind and hydro, having closed its last coal plant
Spain receives about 40 percent of its power from renewables at present.Solar is not an ideal power source for black-starting the grid,
given that it's unavailable for a significant chunk of the day
But solar panels produce direct current, with electronic systems matching it to the alternating current of the grid
With the right electronics, it can play a key role in keeping frequencies stable as grid segments are repowered
In productive areas, wind can provide black start power to other plants, and doesn't need much external power to begin operations
It's unclear, however, whether the local wind hardware is equipped for black starts, or if the local weather will cooperate (a quick check
of the weather in various cities suggests it's relatively calm there).Batteries have the potential to be incredibly helpful, since they also
provide direct current that can be converted to any frequency needed, and so used for both starting up power plants or for frequency
stabilization as segments of the grid are brought back online
Unfortunately, neither country has installed much grid-scale battery hardware yet
That's expected to change over the next few years in parallel with dramatically expanded solar power
But, at the moment, batteries will not be a huge help.Regardless of how precisely the grid operators manage to handle this task in Spain and
Portugal, they face a monumental challenge at the moment
If you're seeing estimates of several days for the restoration of power, it's because failing to meet this challenge will leave things back
in the state they're in now.
