Tag: infrastructure

‘How does this happen?’ Power outages plunge major U.S. city into darkness after months of warnings

New Orleans was plunged into darkness on Sunday afternoon when the region’s grid operator cut off power to reduce usage, a “last resort” measure to prevent a large-scale blackout, according to Nola.com, a local news outlet.

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), a major electrical grid operator, directed the energy company Entergy to reduce power with only three minutes’ notice to prevent a blackout, affecting nearly 100,000 customers, according to Nola.com. Power was fully restored after several hours, though concerns about the power grid’s reliability remain as President Donald Trump’s administration, energy policy experts and multiple North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reports have signaled that MISO is at an elevated risk for blackouts due in part to phasing out coal-fired power plants.

“The forced outages were directed by MISO as a last resort, and done in order to prevent a more extensive, prolonged power outage that could severely affect the reliability of the power grid,” Entergy said in a Sunday statement.

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Eco-experiment that ‘blacked out entire country’: Spanish scientists ‘were experimenting with how far they could push renewable energy’ before country-wide chaos

Spanish authorities were experimenting with how far they could push their reliance on renewable energy before the Iberian Peninsula was hit with a massive power outage last month, it has been suggested. 

As people wait for more answers on what caused the power cut that disrupted tens of millions of lives across Spain and Portugal, several have questioned Spain’s heavy reliance on renewable energy sources as it plans to phase out nuclear reactors. 

Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has rejected such criticism, asking for patience while the government investigates the causes of the historic blackout. 

Spain’s electric grid operator Red Eléctrica de España pinned it on a significant and unprecedented drop in power generation. 

Now, it has been suggested that the Spanish government was carrying out an experiment before the country’s grid system crashed, The Telegraph reports. 

Under said test, authorities had been trialling how far they could push their reliance on renewables as they prepared for Spain’s phase-out of nuclear reactors from 2027. 

The Spanish Association of Electrical Energy Companies (Aelec), which has criticised the inquiry into the blackout’s cause, has now said it was not the country’s generators that failed to deliver power to the grid, but rather it was the grid that failed to manage it and then shut down automatically. 

The head of Spain’s photovoltaic association, Jose Donoso, had made a similar suggestion earlier this month, telling newsoutlet 20Minutos: ‘It’s a matter of logic; the fact that the entire system goes down because of a photovoltaic plant makes no sense.

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As crisis grows at U.S. airports, feds are buying replacement parts on eBay or 3D printing them

America’s air traffic control system is blinking red with warning after a midair collision, several harrowing outages, and a staffing shortage. Now Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is adding to the worries by revealing the Federal Aviation Administration is resorting to using eBay and 3D printers to replace parts for antiquated computer systems. 

The secretary told the the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday that the technology holding together American airports is so outdated, the federal government does not have reliable suppliers that can replace vital components.

“We do try to buy replacement parts on eBay for this really old equipment,” Duffy told the senators. “Sometimes, we can’t even buy it on eBay, so we’re trying to use 3D printing to craft replacement parts for the system that we use.”

Duffy first drew attention to this ongoing issue last week in an interview with CBS News. He noted the FAA turned to eBay because “we can’t buy parts for new” for the aging equipment. 

Because of the worrying state of the nation’s airports, Duffy announced earlier this month an ambitious three-year plan to revamp air traffic control systems with a focus on modernizing communications technology, surveillance systems, and digitization. To do this, the administration will seek “upfront appropriations” from Congress to fund the much-needed updates. 

You can read the Transportation Department’s three-year plan below: 

Brand New Air Traffic Control System Plan.pdf

The plan emphasizes fast-paced modernization was necessary because risks increased the longer the U.S. remained reliant on the aging systems, especially at a time when air traffic is increasing and spaceflight is making a comeback. 

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Biden administration unleashed billions to update electric grid without proper controls, probe finds

The Biden Energy Department blasted out billions of dollars to bolster the U.S. energy grid shortly before last fall’s election without adequate financial controls and staffing to properly protect taxpayers, an internal investigation has found. 

In October 2024, the Department of Energy awarded $7.6 billion in funding to 105 projects across the United States, in support of various grid resilience initiatives. The Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program (GRIP) had a total of $10.5 billion allocated to it from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

The DOE Office of Inspector General initiated an investigation to determine if the department’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO), which administered the funding for the GRIP program under the Biden administration, had adequate internal controls and resources to implement the program. 

According to the OIG’s report released Wednesday, the GDO lacked an effective internal controls system to manage risk, nor did it have staffing resources to implement the program.

“Without a robust internal controls system, GDO may not identify risks that could negatively impact the GRIP program’s outcomes,” the report said. “These impacts could include improperly reimbursed costs, fraud, waste, and undisclosed conflicts of interest.”

DOE-OIG-25-19.pdf

The lack of adequate accounting practices for taxpayer funding may extend beyond the GDO. 

Trump’s Energy Secretary Chris Wright said during a House Appropriations hearing earlier this month the Loans Program Office at the DOE had issued about $40 billion in loans for energy projects over the last 15 years. But in the last 76 days of the Biden administration, that number jumped to $100 billion. Wright said that the rushed loan agreements lacked clauses traditionally required by the DOE. 

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Trump Energy Chief Invokes Emergency Powers To Boost Fossil Fuel Use in Blackout-Plagued Puerto Rico

Energy Secretary Chris Wright is invoking emergency powers to empower Puerto Rico to boost fossil fuel power generation in the wake of a recent island-wide blackout and ahead of the summer, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Wright issued two orders Friday afternoon: The first directs the government-owned Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to increase electric power production on the island to maintain grid reliability while the second orders the agency to immediately clear overgrown vegetation that presents risk of shortages and fire. Both orders invoked emergency powers conferred on the energy secretary under the Federal Power Act.

In addition, as part of the announcement, the Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office will conduct a review of $365 million in funding the Biden administration granted to third party organizations and companies in December to develop new solar power installations across the island.

Wright’s actions Friday represent an abrupt recalibration of how the federal government will address Puerto Rico’s ongoing power generation crisis, shifting from a focus on boosting green energy like solar power to expanding existing fossil fuel infrastructure. And it comes just a month after after Puerto Rico suffered a devastating blackout that impacted 1.4 million residents and left hundreds of thousands without water, the Associated Press reported.

That blackout was the second of its kind in less than four months on the island and underscored the power supply issues Puerto Rico has faced for the better part of a decade. Both blackouts are particularly alarming considering they occurred outside of the peak summer demand season.

“Access to energy is essential for all modern life, yet the current energy emergency jeopardizes Puerto Ricans’ access to basic necessities,” Wright said in a statement. “This system is unsustainable, and our fellow citizens should not be forced to suffer the constant instability and dangerous consequences of an unreliable power grid.”

“With President Trump’s leadership, we are prioritizing immediate and comprehensive actions that will mitigate the greatest threats to the grid and benefit a vastly larger portion of the population, including critical facilities like hospitals and community centers,” he continued.

The Department of Energy said Wright’s actions were taken in coordination with the Puerto Rican energy industry and power experts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The actions received support from Puerto Rico’s governor Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R.) and energy czar Josue Colon-Ortiz.

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Texas Bill Would Require Solar Power Plants to Have Gas and Coal Backup

A bill working its way through the Texas legislature has caused some double takes with language that requires solar plants to provide power in the dark.

State bill S.B. 715 passed the Senate this week, and if adopted by the Texas house it would require any renewable power providers to buy backup power, typically from coal or gas plants, the Hill reported.

Texas consultant and energy expert Doug Lewin wrote in his analysis of the legislation that the measure would require solar plants to buy backup power to “match their output at night — a time when no one expects them to produce energy and when demand is typically at its lowest anyway.”

Double takes aside, the legislation is part of three Republican bills advancing through the state legislature that could offset Texas’ green energy progress and give fossil fuels an advantage in the state’s energy market, Reason reported. Texas generates the most renewable energy in the nation.

The bill is supported by a conservative think tank called the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which argues traditional power sources are still needed to make up for the unpredictability of wind and solar power. As Breitbart reported, Texas faced power shortages and rolling blackouts in 2021 as cold weather and ice froze the state’s wind turbines.

A state business lobby group disagrees, evoking the same fear of blackouts. The Texas Association of Business (TAB) predicted the measure would lead to unpredictable supply, costing the state $5.2 billion more per year and individual consumers on average $225 more per year in power costs. In addition to cost increases, the TAB analysis asserted, Texans would also face a higher risk of blackouts in the heat of summer or in future ice storms.

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Spain Blackouts Prompt EU Push for More Censorship Under “Preparedness Strategy” Citing “Disinformation” Threats

These days, no event, incident, or occasion, regardless of its nature, appears to be too big or too small to use as an excuse to promote more censorship in the name of “combating disinformation.”

Last week, Spain and Portugal lived through an embarrassing episode of widespread electricity blackouts – and the current consensus is that the reason is even more embarrassing: old infrastructure, fraught with its own problems – that are only compounded by endless attempts to work “green” energy sources into it.

Trillions of dollars is the figure that experts are mentioning as needed to get the EU’s electricity grid up to speed – or rather, balance the reality with the aggressive “progressive” policy pushes so that a similar crisis is averted going forward.

But a conversation about these topics is apparently a hard one to have for the EU bureaucracy.

Instead, it, through the mouth of Commissioner for Preparedness, Crisis Management and Equality Hadja Lahbib, prefers to effectively misguide, and deflect away from that, and onto the key talking points that are sure to provoke a sense of paranoia among citizens: cyberattacks and supply chain disruptions (as a result of this type of threats).

In other words – instead of addressing actual problem(s), the focus is being shifted to how information around them should be best managed, to somehow score public opinion points.

Speaking for Spain’s El Mundo, Lahbib mentioned the EU Preparation Strategy, and the Union Strategy for Preparation – apparently, her “shorthand” for the formal, and oddly phrased, “EU Preparedness Union Strategy.”

It is a set of measures meant to “counter foreign information manipulation and disinformation more systematically” by fully using the EU’s Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) toolbox, the censorship law Digital Services Act (DSA), and the censorship initiative – the upcoming European Democracy Shield.

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Spain hit by more blackouts as ‘tens of thousands’ left without power in Canary Islands a week after nationwide outages

A power outage hit several areas of the Spanish island of La Palma in the Canary Islands on Thursday, just a week after national outages.

Local media reported that thousands of locals and holidaymakers across the island were left without power for nearly two hours after a blackout occurred at around 10am local time.

The affected areas included Los Llanos de Aridane, Breña Alta, Santa Cruz de La Palma and Fuencaliente.

More than twenty towns were left without in the dark in these areas, stretching from north to south of the island, before Endesa and Red Eléctrica begun working on restoring power.

Javier Llamas, the mayor of the town of Aridane, told a local radio station at around midday that: ‘More than half of the power outage has already been restored.’    

Local media reports explained how the power outage could potentially affect up to 30,000 people in La Palma.

‘The source is unknown for now, but everything points to a problem at the Los Guinchos power plant,’ La Radio Canaria said.

La Palma Island Council urged residents to remain calm, avoid overwhelming emergency services, call 112 only if absolutely necessary, and prioritise saving battery life on mobile devices. 

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Power Restored In Spain, Portugal As Net-Zero Becomes Headache For Brussels

Spanish power distributor Red Eléctrica announced on X early Tuesday that 99% of the country’s power capacity had been restored following a daylong, unprecedented blackout that plunged much of Europe’s Iberian Peninsula into chaos and darkness.

As of 0700 local time, Red Eléctrica stated:

  • 99.95% of the demand recovered (25,794MW).
  • We continue working from the Electrical Control Center for the complete normalization of the system.

The outage paralyzed digital payment systems, disrupted communications, and brought various modes of transportation networks to an apocalyptic standstill. While a Spanish judge has launched an investigation into whether a cyberattack was responsible, early indications suggest the culprit is likely net zero.

Here’s an excerpt from Michael Shellenberger at PUBLIC, who provided an uncomfortable truth about the unhinged liberals in Europe who have been hellbent on retiring fossil fuel power and nuclear generation plants, swapping for unreliable solar and wind:

Despite all these warnings, political and regulatory energy in Europe remained focused on accelerating renewable deployment, not upgrading the grid’s basic stability. In Spain, solar generation continued to climb rapidly through 2023 and early 2024. 

Coal plants closed. Nuclear units retired. 

On many spring days by 2025, Spain’s midday solar generation exceeded its total afternoon demand, leading to frequent negative electricity prices.

The system was being pushed to the limit.

And today, at 12:35 pm, it broke.

…

Spain’s blackout wasn’t just a technical failure. It was a political and strategic failure.

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Spain’s blackouts are a disaster made by Net Zero

‘We face a long night’, warned Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez yesterday evening, after much of Spain, Portugal and south-west France were plunged into darkness by the worst power outage in European history. Tens of millions of people were left without electricity. Trains were halted, planes were grounded and the internet was shut down. Modern life ground to a halt across the Iberian Peninsula. Although the exact causes of the blackout have yet to be declared, we can be certain of one thing: the risk of such outages will only get worse as we embark on the path towards Net Zero.

Spain and Portugal are increasingly reliant on solar and wind power. Renewables were supplying 80 per cent of electricity just before the outages. The blackouts were triggered by a rapid loss of power – of around 15GW, the equivalent of 60 per cent of Spain’s national electricity demand. It is not clear what exactly led to this loss, although a cyber attack has been ruled out. What matters is that a renewable-heavy grid is far less able to absorb this kind of shock than one that runs on traditional energy sources.

Coal and gas plants, or hydroelectric dams, have what is called ‘inertia’ built into the system, whereas wind and solar do not. The spinning turbines used in traditional energy generation will not immediately grind to a halt when there is a fault, acting as a buffer against power outages. ‘In a low-inertia environment’, explains energy expert Kathryn Porter, ‘if you have had a significant grid fault in one area, or a cyber attack, or whatever it may be, the grid operators therefore have less time to react. That can lead to cascading failures if you cannot get it under control quickly.’

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