Paul Dickinson: Are renewables to blame for the Spanish grid going down? (What I’m outraged and optimistic about this week)

Dear Listener,

I still find it strange that in the twenty-five years or more I’ve been working on climate change, I rarely come across anyone who talks about - or even knows about - grids. Even though we talk endlessly about renewable energy, grids barely come up. It’s a total mystery.

Because without grids, we can’t get power to where it needs to go. And without modern, upgraded grids, we can’t integrate all the renewable energy we’re capable of generating. With such severe disparity of wealth, and rising energy bills being a challenge for so many governments, you’d think it would be a no-brainer to invest in and develop our grids - and to make a really big deal out of it.

So why aren’t we? One reason is that in living memory, we haven’t had a major blackout - like the one we just experienced in Spain and Portugal - that really kickstarts a mainstream conversation about grid infrastructure. Another reason? Grids are mostly hidden, and controlled by a government ministry. We don’t see them. No one we know is putting a grid on their roof. 

But brilliant grids… they’re the key that unlocks energy abundance. With them, we can harness as much free energy as the sun and wind can give us - energy that is essentially infinite. And this is why I get so excited about grids.

Because when we sort them out - properly upgrade them for the 21st century - we really could be looking at an era of totally free electricity. It’s the ultimate narrative. The ultimate prize of the energy transition: free energy for all. And it’s entirely possible.

Just to give a sense of the commercial opportunity in my country, in 2022, the UK’s energy import bill was £117 billion! So I urge all our listeners: learn about grids. Talk about them. Start to understand the fascinating political and economic dynamics behind this crucial technology.

You can start right now - by listening to today’s podcast, where we dig into what just happened in Spain and Portugal. It’s a great discussion, and I hope we can do more of these. Because when it comes to climate solutions, grids are where it’s at.

OUTRAGE + OPTIMISM ON THE CALENDAR

THIS WEEK: The Spanish Grid Goes Down: Are Renewables to Blame? On April 28th, millions of people across Spain, Portugal and beyond were plunged into darkness in one of Europe’s most severe blackouts in decades. Was it a cyberattack? A failure of the grid to manage so much renewable energy? Or might things be a little more complex? Christiana, Tom and I dig into what we know, what we don’t, and ask what this blackout really tells us about the transition to renewables. We speak with energy strategist Kingsmill Bond and hear an on-the-ground account from José Manuel Entrecanales, CEO of global renewables leader ACCIONA Energía , to build a picture of how our grids function – and how they fail. Listen in wherever you get your podcasts, Thursday, May 15. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Technology vs Transition?: What Tony Blair gets right - and wrong - about net zero. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says that net zero is politically unachievable without radical rethinking: a shift away from reducing consumption and toward technologies that can remove carbon both at the source and from the atmosphere. So, are carbon capture and carbon removal really viable - and more palatable - alternatives to a rapid fossil fuel phaseout? And is our net zero strategy failing, or simply failing to be explained? Last week Christiana, Tom and I dove into the heart of these questions and explored what Blair’s comments mean for the wider net zero debate. With timely and provocative contributions from listeners and friends of the podcast - including former BBC News Science Editor David Shukman and Senior Policy Advisor at Carbonfuture Sebastian Manhart - we asked: can we rescue the net zero brand before it’s written off? Listen back, wherever you get your podcasts. 

Thank you very much for listening to Outrage + Optimism, and for reading our newsletter,

All my best,

Paul

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