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2025 Iberia Blackout Report [pdf]

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193 points leymed | 4 comments | 23 Jun 25 18:34 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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AnotherGoodName ◴[23 Jun 25 21:07 UTC] No.44360099[source]▶
Reads very similar to some blackouts we had in Australia. Weakly connected grids with vast geographical distances leading to oscillations that took down the grid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_South_Australian_blackout

Completely solved with lithium based grid storage at key locations btw. This grid storage has also been massively profitable for it's owners https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornsdale_Power_Reserve#Revenu...

Australia currently has 4 of the 5 largest battery storage systems under construction as a result of this profit opportunity; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_energy_storage_system#...

You can also read numerous stories of how Australia's lithium ion grid storage systems have prevented blackouts in many cases. https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-big-battery-south-australia-... The fact is that the batteries responsiveness is the fastest of any system at correcting gaps like this. 50/60hz is nothing for a lithium ion battery nor are brief periods of multi-gigawatt draw/dumping as needed.

There's even articles that if Europe investing in battery storage systems like Australia they'd have avoided this. https://reneweconomy.com.au/no-batteries-no-flexibility-spai...

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londons_explore ◴[23 Jun 25 21:14 UTC] No.44360187[source]▶
> nor are brief periods of multi-gigawatt draw/dumping as needed.

Actually this is typically an issue for grid batteries.

Spinning generators can easily briefly go to 10x the rated current for a second or so to smooth out big anomalies.

Stationary batteries inverters can't do 10x current spikes ever - the max they can get to is more like 1.2x for a few seconds.

That means you end up needing a lot of batteries to provide the same spinning reserve as one regular power station.

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giantg2 ◴[23 Jun 25 21:36 UTC] No.44360408[source]▶
Seems like pumped hydro offers a nice compromise.
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1. floatrock ◴[23 Jun 25 23:16 UTC] No.44361197{3}[source]▶
Most economically-suitable locations for pumped hydro have been built out already.

You can always use a ton more concrete and force new locations, but the best locations have already been utilized and scaling law of batteries has brought them to the point where they're more competitive than new hydro for this kind of use.

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2. bryanlarsen ◴[24 Jun 25 01:20 UTC] No.44361972[source]▶
Most economical locations for hydro generation have been built out already. Pumped hydro doesn't require flow like generation does, so there are thousands of times more suitable locations. Those haven't been built out.
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3. Maxion ◴[24 Jun 25 04:51 UTC] No.44362940[source]▶
At least in my country they have. They keep trying to build a facility but anything they come up with, the ROI just isn't there.
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4. bryanlarsen ◴[24 Jun 25 15:17 UTC] No.44367165{3}[source]▶
In other words, there are lots of places they could build, but it's just too expensive to build and/or the value of long term electricity storage is too low.