Extreme Heat Knocks Out Power In Spain And Portugal
A “rare atmospheric phenomenon”—another term for extreme heat — knocked out power in Spain and Portugal.
According to Euronews, Kyle Chapman, an FX markets analyst at Ballinger Group, said, “Essentially, the Spanish economy is shut down for the day, and that means that businesses will take a short-term hit, but ultimately, the total disruption will probably be marginal provided that the power comes back relatively soon.” However, there is nothing to say about whether there will be a quick recovery. One expert said it could take a week to recover.
The power outage hit phone lines, internet access, card payments, and lights.
The problem is not unlike the two blackouts in NYC on July 13 and July 14, 1977. The damage, in today’s dollars, was about $2 billion. The blackout triggered a rise in crime.
New York City Blackouts
Spain’s and Portugal’s problems probably point out Europe’s weak grid. The US has a similar problem. It was recently pointed out that the EU energy grid has problems, including grid congestion, limited storage capacity, and inadequate interconnectivity. There has been a slow transition to renewable energy, which could lead to blackouts and energy price volatility. Renewal sources have been slow to come online.
Small blackouts and brownouts occur, usually when grids are overloaded in small areas of the US. Utilities intentionally cause these.
At some point soon, those blackouts won’t be intentional.
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