Yes, We Can Blame Solar For Spain’s Blackout. And If The Socialist Government Doesn’t Change Course, Expect More Blackouts

Plenty of evidence points to solar. Meanwhile, across rural Spain, local communities are fighting back against the encroachment of Big Solar and Big Wind.

Farmers in Jaén opposed to the installation of solar projects in their region held a rally on September 26, 2024. The sign the protesters are holding says, “In defense of olive trees and our livelihood! We don’t want solar plants...Greenalia out of our territory now! (Greenalia is the company pushing the solar project.) Jaén is known as the olive oil capital of the world. Photo credit: El País

When in doubt, deny. That’s the strategy Spain’s top officials are using in the wake of Monday’s blackout, which affected more than 55 million people.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a socialist, denied that his country’s heavy reliance on wind and solar were to blame for the blackout, saying “There was no problem caused by an excess of renewable energy.” He also claimed nuclear power was “no more resilient than other sources” during the power outage and that nuclear plants are not “currently competitive with renewable energy.” Sanchez has promised a full investigation into the blackout.

Big media outlets are also in denial. On Wednesday, Reuters published an article that claimed while “it may be tempting” to pin the blackout on wind and solar, “Reliance on renewables is not to blame. Rather, the issue appears to be the management of renewables in the modern grid.”

Right. So renewables aren’t to blame, but it’s the grid’s fault?

In the same article, in an own-goal for the record books, Reuters reporter Ron Bousso admits that while the cause of the initial drop in electrical output is “unclear...a collapse in Spain’s solar power system was certainly involved.” Bousso went on to say that “a possible contributor” to the grid’s collapse was, wait for it...”The lack of so-called ‘grid inertia’ as a result of the relatively small share of nuclear and fossil fuel generation in Spain’s power mix.” That’s precisely what I wrote in these pages on Monday.

Why are Spanish officials and others so eager to deny solar’s role in the blackout?

There are two primary answers. First, acknowledging that solar and wind energy fragilize power grids undermines the Left’s narrative about the illusory benefits of the “energy transition” and the parallel claim that we must quit using hydrocarbons and nuclear and rely solely on renewables. Maintaining that narrative is particularly important to Spain’s leaders, who plan to shutter all five of the country’s nuclear power plants by 2035, even though those plants provide about 20% of the country’s juice.

The second answer: Follow the money. Tens of billions of dollars are at stake. The Spanish government expects some $60 billion to be spent on Spain’s grid between now and 2030 to accommodate renewables. Projections indicate Spain will have to double its solar capacity by 2030. In addition, Spain says it wants to achieve net zero emissions by 2045.

Big banks, big law firms, and big business stand to make huge profits by promoting the net zero fiction. And just like their counterparts here in the US, they don’t want that river of cash to stop flowing.

Here's a prediction: Spain cannot, will not, get anywhere close to net zero. Why not? Spain is seeing a widespread backlash against the encroachment of Big Solar. In Alicante, Andalusia, and elsewhere, local communities are telling solar developers to take their projects somewhere else.

I’ll take a look at the backlash. Before doing so, I’ll provide more evidence for why solar is to blame for the blackout, including a warning that Spain’s grid operator, Red Eléctrica de España, made in February about the danger of relying too heavily on renewables. I’ll also explain why Monday’s blackout could only be a precursor of more to come.