{"id":376870,"date":"2025-04-30T16:48:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T14:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=376870"},"modified":"2025-04-30T16:48:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T14:48:15","slug":"solar-farms-failure-behind-spain-blackouts-grid-operator-confirms-as-tony-blair-turns-on-net-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=376870","title":{"rendered":"Solar Farms Failure Behind Spain Blackouts, Grid Operator Confirms \u2013 as Tony Blair Turns on Net Zero"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Sallust<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the\u00a0Telegraph<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>the Iberian Peninsula\u2019s catastrophic power outage on April 28th, 2025, was most likely down to failures at solar farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

REE, Spain\u2019s national grid operator, said it had identified two incidents of power generation loss, probably from solar plants, in the country\u2019s south-west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These incidents caused instability in the electric system and led to a breakdown of its interconnection with France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has ruled out a cyber attack as the cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish Prime Minister, said the blackout was not due to a lack of nuclear power, rejecting claims by far-Right party Vox which opposes Madrid\u2019s planned nuclear phase-out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose who link this incident to the lack of nuclear power are frankly lying or demonstrating their ignorance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Sanchez announced that a commission has been set up and that \u201call the necessary measures will be taken to ensure that this does not happen again\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The <\/a>Guardian<\/a> <\/em>was still running with the idea that the weather was to blame first thing this morning but by later in the day had dropped the story entirely, though its Politics Live section did cover Tony Blair\u2019s warning today that phasing out fossil fuel is doomed to failure<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Tony Blair has called for a \u201creset\u201d of action on climate change, to the dismay of some green campaigners, suggesting the Government should focus less on renewables and more on technological solutions like carbon capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In remarks that have antagonised some in Labour and in industry, the former prime minister said people were \u201cbeing asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know that their impact on global emissions is minimal\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blair, who was writing the forward to a new report from his thinktank, the Tony Blair Institute, echoed similar criticism of Net Zero made by the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch. He wrote \u201cany strategy based on either \u2018phasing out\u2019 fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former Labour leader, whose institute has been highly influential in Labour circles, said that the current climate debate was \u201criven with irrationality\u201d and suggested Net Zero was losing public support.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Blair added<\/a>: \u201cMost political leaders are decent people who do want to do the right thing. \u2026 They would like to start taking some of the hysteria out of the climate debate but are reluctant to be the first to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the BBC remained circumspect<\/a> and stuck with running a story covering the disruption in detail<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole extraordinary incident impacted almost the whole Iberian Peninsula and even parts of France. But two factors are going to have to be under consideration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Our dependence on electricity has increased dramatically, and that dependence is being ramped up as other power sources are being gradually eliminated.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The new sources of electricity are subject to uncontrollable variations in supply, and which cannot be easily synchronised with demand, with a disastrous susceptibility to causing whole grids to switch off.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    If nothing else, the Iberian Peninsula fiasco has flagged up like nothing before just how vulnerable our society is, especially when massive changes to something as important as the power grid are forced through in a rush. The implications for Britain, where the present Government is desperate to make the whole nation totally reliant on renewable sources of electricity generation by 2030, are very serious indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s also shown how very quickly a further blackout, especially one which cannot be solved almost immediately, could lead to disorder on the streets and potentially far worse. The political implications ought to be obvious, even to the most stupid and short-sighted politicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Telegraph<\/em>\u2019s piece is worth reading in full<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Stop Press<\/strong>: Net Zero taxes are killing manufacturing, failing to tackle emissions and making Britain more reliant on foreign imports, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has warned. From the Telegraph<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    The billionaire industrialist said costly taxes on carbon emissions<\/a> were driving jobs offshore and simply shifting production to countries that cared less about the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Chief Executive of chemicals giant Ineos urged Ministers to rethink the UK\u2019s carbon taxes, which he said cost him tens of millions of pounds each year that would otherwise be ploughed into investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sir Jim warned the collapse of British Steel laid bare the damage done by Britain\u2019s ideological and \u201cuncompetitive energy policy\u201d, which he said was putting UK companies out of business.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Read here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    According to the\u00a0Telegraph\u00a0the Iberian Peninsula\u2019s catastrophic power outage on April 28th, 2025, was most likely down to failures at solar farms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":376871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818279,691819134,691818228,691818154,691819094,691818267,691821183,691821401],"class_list":{"0":"post-376870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-blackouts","9":"tag-climate-alarmism","10":"tag-fossil-fuels","11":"tag-net-zero","12":"tag-renewable-green-energy","13":"tag-solar-power","14":"tag-spain","15":"tag-tony-blair","17":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Screenshot-2025-04-29-151843.jpeg?fit=1659%2C855&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1A2y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":380491,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=380491","url_meta":{"origin":376870,"position":0},"title":"Spain Boosts Natural Gas Capacity After Renewable Energy\u2019s Failure Led to Historic Blackout","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Meanwhile, the Iron Law of Electricity prevailed in Portugal\u2019s recent election, as those who enjoy civilized living went to the polls and picked a \u201cfar-right\u201d candidate.","rel":"","context":"In \"combined-cycle gas turbines\"","block_context":{"text":"combined-cycle gas turbines","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=combined-cycle-gas-turbines"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blackout.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blackout.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blackout.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blackout.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":377975,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=377975","url_meta":{"origin":376870,"position":1},"title":"I\u2019m a power engineer. The Iberian grid collapse makes me very afraid for\u00a0Britain","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Telegraph has reported that even NESO are now warning about potential blackouts","rel":"","context":"In \"Blackout\"","block_context":{"text":"Blackout","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=blackout"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/00bigstock-Spain-Solar-And-Wind-Energy-R-308630041.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/00bigstock-Spain-Solar-And-Wind-Energy-R-308630041.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/00bigstock-Spain-Solar-And-Wind-Energy-R-308630041.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/00bigstock-Spain-Solar-And-Wind-Energy-R-308630041.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/00bigstock-Spain-Solar-And-Wind-Energy-R-308630041.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":425947,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=425947","url_meta":{"origin":376870,"position":2},"title":"Macron says Spain’s mega-blackout was due to the country’s reliance on renewable energy","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"13\/02\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"French President Emmanuel Macron recently stated that Spain's major blackout in April 2025 was caused by the country's over-reliance on renewable energy. Note that Spain's actual renewable share is around 60% (from solar, wind, hydro, etc.), with nuclear at about 20%, though periods of very high renewable output (even approaching\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"blackout in April 2025\"","block_context":{"text":"blackout in April 2025","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=blackout-in-april-2025"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0AQOvFXlKA9juUao7uyQn58ksv8-EwuT2_OBET-6mUDzwcC23U1WcSerninjn41wBPhtyv2FLcn9LeyDS6RxuBCITBRh4DPXRjNIa2X-kR3cMghi09zt2D5xNb8OqDzD4-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0AQOvFXlKA9juUao7uyQn58ksv8-EwuT2_OBET-6mUDzwcC23U1WcSerninjn41wBPhtyv2FLcn9LeyDS6RxuBCITBRh4DPXRjNIa2X-kR3cMghi09zt2D5xNb8OqDzD4-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0AQOvFXlKA9juUao7uyQn58ksv8-EwuT2_OBET-6mUDzwcC23U1WcSerninjn41wBPhtyv2FLcn9LeyDS6RxuBCITBRh4DPXRjNIa2X-kR3cMghi09zt2D5xNb8OqDzD4-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0AQOvFXlKA9juUao7uyQn58ksv8-EwuT2_OBET-6mUDzwcC23U1WcSerninjn41wBPhtyv2FLcn9LeyDS6RxuBCITBRh4DPXRjNIa2X-kR3cMghi09zt2D5xNb8OqDzD4-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0AQOvFXlKA9juUao7uyQn58ksv8-EwuT2_OBET-6mUDzwcC23U1WcSerninjn41wBPhtyv2FLcn9LeyDS6RxuBCITBRh4DPXRjNIa2X-kR3cMghi09zt2D5xNb8OqDzD4-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":383725,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=383725","url_meta":{"origin":376870,"position":3},"title":"Spain\u2019s Impossible Dream Of \u2018Green\u2019 Electricity","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/06\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Thousands of wind turbines and millions of solar panels generated a massive blackout","rel":"","context":"In \"biggest blackout ever\"","block_context":{"text":"biggest blackout ever","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=biggest-blackout-ever"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Blackout.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Blackout.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Blackout.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Blackout.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":378322,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=378322","url_meta":{"origin":376870,"position":4},"title":"European Blackout Update (yes, it was solar)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"14\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Recent evidence indicates that Europe\u2019s worst blackout, occurring in the Iberian Peninsula, originated from an unstable power grid. 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