On Monday, the power went out in Spain and Portugal. It happened at 12:38 p.m. local time, when the grid was relying on solar and wind power for about 78% of the electricity in use.
Monday afternoon, the director of Red Eléctrica, Spain’s grid operator, said the outage was caused by a “very strong oscillation in the electrical network,” which led the Spanish power system to “disconnect from the European system” followed by “the collapse of the Iberian electricity network.”
But on Monday evening, the prime minister of Spain declared, “What caused it is something that the experts have not yet established,” adding, “every possible cause is being investigated.”
This much is known already: between 12:30 and 12:35 p.m. on Monday, solar photovoltaic generation dropped by more than 50%, knocking out 60% of the electricity supplying demand in Spain in five seconds. “We will find out what happened in those five seconds,” the prime minister said.
Journalist and author Michael Shellenberger reported that just six days earlier, Spain had celebrated its country’s grid operating entirely on “renewable energy” for the first time ever on a weekday. The nationwide blackout “was not an unforeseeable event,” Shellenberger wrote, “It was the exact failure that many of us have been, repeatedly, warning lawmakers about for years — warnings that Europe’s political leaders systematically chose to ignore.”
Shellenberger wrote that because Spain’s electricity system relied mostly on solar panels, wind turbines and inverters, the grid was vulnerable to instability. A traditional grid powered by “heavy spinning machines” like gas turbines, coal plants and nuclear reactors can absorb shocks and sudden changes, such as whatever happened in those five seconds.
Now let’s talk about California, where Monday’s blackout should have made lawmakers sit bolt upright in bed as if they were just visited by the Ghost of Christmas Future.
California governors have already signed the death warrant for the state’s gas-powered electricity generation plants and its one remaining nuclear plant. Even some hydroelectric dams have been dismantled. State law says that by 2045, California will have 100% renewable electricity, defined as solar, wind and a handful of smaller green energy sources.
But every day and night, California relies on gas, hydro, nuclear and imported electricity. If we eliminate those sources by 2045, will we have to bring bottled water and emergency food on every elevator ride? Why do you suppose our public officials never discuss the risks of depending solely on renewables?
This might be a good time to look more deeply into the financial ecosystem of the green energy movement, and who is making a fortune from it.
Have you ever heard of “tax equity” investments? Here’s how they work: a giant bank, such as JPMorgan Chase or Bank of America, puts up the money for a costly renewable energy project in order to take the tax credits and any other tax benefits the government has granted to the green energy sector. Essentially, your tax dollars are paying the shareholders of the big banks.
Money is also made by selling Renewable Energy Certificates, called RECs or green tags, each representing a megawatt-hour of electricity generated from a renewable source. Selling certificates, in addition to selling electricity, is a very nice side business, and it’s all made possible by government mandates and subsidies. Carbon credits and permits are similarly generated and sold, as well as traded on a secondary market, enriching brokers. There’s a lucrative market for “green” bonds and other financial instruments that have tax benefits or captive customers attached to them.
All the money that is made in the green energy space comes primarily from two sources: taxpayers and ratepayers. How much of it is diverted to politicians to keep this going?
The good news is, if the power goes out in California, Al Gore has enough guest rooms for all of us.
Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Susan Shelley: Can the enviros keep the lights on? )
Also on site :