The recent power outage in Spain and Portugal might indicate what is in store for Alaska if we continue adding renewable energy sources to our electrical grid.

A massive power outage struck the Iberian Peninsula on Monday, halting all electrical power to both countries. It took almost 24 hours to restore power completely. When questioned about the reasons for the outage, a spokesperson for Spain’s electrical utility, Red Electrica de España (REE), had to resort to buzzwords to describe the failure. He used phrases like it was due to a “rare atmospheric phenomenon” and “the outage is exceptional and totally extraordinary.”

While the actual cause of the incident won’t be known until an investigation report is released, some significant facts point to system instability due to the country’s reliance on a high percentage of renewable energy as the probable cause. Spain has made a massive investment in renewables such as wind and solar power, and just six days before the outage, REE announced that the country was operating entirely on renewable power for the first time. One problem with this kind of energy source is that it has less of what electrical engineers call “rotational inertia,” making it vulnerable to system instability.

When we maximize the use of hydro power and take full advantage of our abundant natural gas, Alaska’s energy problems will be solved. Reliance on renewables is a pipe dream.

The term might sound confusing, but it isn’t really. Think of it this way: If you need to pull your boat trailer up the ramp at the dock, when you press on the gas, the engine may lug down a bit, but the engine keeps spinning, and your vehicle can pull the trailer up the ramp. The torque from the truck engine is due to rotational inertia, which allows it to overcome an applied load.

The same is true on a larger scale for conventional power systems. When large hydroelectric turbines provide power at dams like Alaska’s Bradley Lake power system, those turbines have rotational inertia. The same is true for the large gas turbines that power the generators used by Chugach Electric up in Anchorage. These large, massive rotating turbines are all connected to the Alaska Railbelt electrical grid. They have rotational inertia and provide stability to the grid, preventing electrical blackouts.

When countries eliminate conventional energy sources and replace them with renewable ones, they lose rotational inertia. One electrical engineer in Spain commented, “The enormous concentration of renewable energy in the Aragon-Catalonia part of Spain made the system unstable because of its lack of electrical inertia. The electronic inverters used with renewable energy, which are supposed to synchronize current, can sometimes be amplified between them if a small voltage alteration occurs, causing widespread oscillations.” He further commented, “The lack of physical inertia reserves from large rotation masses used in thermal power plants or hydroelectric plants prevents damping when there are disturbances.”

This phenomenon is not new. It is well understood by electrical engineers. In a paper published in the journal Applied Energy in 2020, an engineer warned that the low inertia in renewable energy systems could cause instability in electrical systems, preventing the 100% penetration of this type of this energy solution.

Engineers have known for at least five years that renewables have problems that prevent their complete adoption. An overreliance on renewable energy likely caused the blackout in Spain. Yet, the green energy proponents here in Alaska want to continue adding renewable energy sources to our electrical grid.

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar with battery backup might work nicely to power a remote cabin located off the electrical grid, but they are not the solution for Alaska’s energy Railbelt intertie that provides power to most residents in our state. An over-reliance on renewable energy sources, as Spain has done, will lead to a less stable electrical system and more power outages. We need to forget about the green energy boondoggles like massive solar farms that the green energy zealots want to force on us. Alaska needs reliable sources of electricity. When we maximize the use of hydro power and take full advantage of our abundant natural gas, Alaska’s energy problems will be solved. Reliance on renewables is a pipe dream.

Like the tale from Homer’s Odyssey, Ulysses’ crew tied him to the mast of his ship to prevent him from steering it onto the rocks when the sirens lured him, Alaska must also avoid the sweet temptations of the green energy sirens.

The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.

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