1 May, Lisbon | The power outage that affected millions of people in Spain and Portugal is a clear sign of the need for further investment into resilient, flexible and modern power systems in Europe, and in every energy market around the world.
Wind energy, alongside other key renewable technologies like solar and hydropower, coupled with energy storage, are the basis of modern energy systems. When effectively integrated, and paired with the correct technology and control, wind farms can help stabilise the grid, balance supply and demand and can deliver inertia, black start capability and speed-up recovery after faults.
In Spain and Portugal, turbines have kept spinning throughout the week, ensuring power was there for critical services, and supporting the restoration of the energy network. Delivering wind power at scale must go hand-in-hand with developing grids which are flexible and modern.
The disruption felt this week shows the challenge ahead of modernising our grids, but crucially also spells out the solution. The Iberian outage should act as a wake-up call to prioritise resilience and flexibility. This is achievable now, and at scale, by strengthening distributed cross-border interconnections, by deploying technology solutions such as grid forming inverters, that support renewables, as well as by increasing amounts of energy storage. These steps will ensure that the clean, secure and abundant electricity made available by wind turbines is readily available to homes, businesses and key infrastructure.