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Last Saturday, March 29, a partial solar eclipse It was visible in the Iberian Peninsula in the morning. A phenomenon that entertained more than one in this first spring mornings. However, for our Portuguese neighbors it has been a problem for their electricity grid.
The absence of the star. During the two hours of eclipse, Portugal lost 560mw of solar generation, which is equivalent to 23% of the country’s electricity production at that time, according to national electrical networks (REN).
An imbalance. Solar energy suffered A drop in electricity generation During the astronomical phenomenon, but it was a loss that occurred progressively, approximately 10MW per minute. This situation led to a decline of 8.5% of the electrical production of total consumption, how has expressed a press release THE REN.
Return to normal. From 11:30, solar production began to recover at a faster rate, 22MW per minute until it reached its normal intensity. However, the fall was greater than the answer, although it turned to other sources such as hydroelectric and thermal.
The balance attempt. Last year, the Portuguese country reached historical records with renewables, covering up to 90% of your demand. However, the eclipse evidenced Portugal’s problem with the storage of energy in batteries and its energy dependence with Spain, how It is observed in the daily balance.
An affected interconnection. The eclipse also had an impact on Spain, which ends affecting interconnection Between both countries. At the broader level, the Entso-E network And European Transmission Systems (OST) operators They registered A loss of generation of approximately 21,000 MW during the event. To minimize the impacts, the electric operators of several countries, including Portugal and Spain, they worked together through the service of Short-Term Adequacy (STA)which allows to plan and balance generation and consumption in a seven -day window.
Was the impact here very big? In Spain the lack of solar generation, was Supply thanks to wind energy with 31.3% of the electrical production. In addition, after what It has happened in March with heavy rainsfrom the Spanish Electric Red They announced that they had prepared to analyze and anticipate the possible effects of the solar eclipse, guaranteeing the security of the supply and the correct operation of the system.
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