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Renewables Grid Brittleness Exposed
- The Spanish blackout revealed the brittleness of 100% renewable power grids relying on variable sources like solar and wind.
- Frequency collapse on interconnected grids can cascade, causing massive outages if grid inertia and stability are insufficient.
Importance of Grid Frequency
- AC power grids require synchronization at precise frequencies to function, which is naturally provided by traditional power stations' spinning generators.
- Renewable energy sources produce power that mimics grid frequency but lack inherent inertia, risking grid instability.
Grid Synchronization Complexity
- Maintaining precise synchronization across interconnected national grids is technically impressive but fragile under current renewable-heavy setups.
- Loss of synchronization causes automatic disconnections to protect equipment but risks widespread blackouts.