gigawatts

On April 8, 2024, at 12:15 noon, 13.8 gigawatts of sunlight entered the grid in Texas. Forty five minutes later 800 megawatts left: The Sun had gone out. It is true that the gas covered the gap, that the batteries helped overcome the pothole and that no one found out about anything. But that eclipse and everything we learned from it are the best possible information to understand what is going to happen to Spain’s electrical grid this August 12. What will happen? That’s the curious thing. On August 12, 2026, when the shadow of the Moon cross Spain from A Coruña to Mahónnothing is going to happen. Absolutely nothing. And not because we have a model electrical grid, nor because (since the blackout) we have done our homework. Nothing will happen because it will be half past eight in the afternoon. What happened in Texas. According to ERCOT datathe Texan operator, photovoltaics went from 27.6% of the electricity mix to 1.7% and then back to 27% in just two hours. The gas filled around 80% of the gap and the batteries helped as well (with, around, 1.4 GW). The thing is that during the Texan midday there is a lot of sunlight. Between 8:28 p.m. and 8:32 p.m., the Sun It will be just 12 degrees above the horizon in Galicia and only 2 in the Balearic Islands: Solar energy available on the grid will already be very scarce. That is, the eclipse will arrive in Spain when the photovoltaics will already be turning off by themselves. So nothing will happen? Although there are no official forecasts yet published, calculations indicate that the eclipse will add a second-order disturbance: the loss it can cause (between 4-5 GW) is in the order that the network usually handles on August afternoons. Shouldn’t cause too many problems this August. And “this August” are the key words. Because if we are wondering about the impact of the eclipse in Spain, perhaps we are looking at the wrong eclipse. On August 2, 2027, between 10:45 and 11:20 in the morning, we will see how The Moon will cover a minimum of 70% of the solar disk throughout the national territory (85% in Madrid and close to 100% in Cádiz and Málaga). That will be a test for the electrical grid because 65% of Spain’s photovoltaic park is in Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura and, at that time, it will be in full ascending ramp. And are we prepared? To tell the truth, it shouldn’t catch us by surprise. The Government has already created a commission with thirteen ministries for the trio of eclipses 2026-2028. However, today, we do not have a public plan for the network in 2027 and it would not be bad if someone started talking about this. Image | Luis Olmos | Martijn Baudoin In Xataka | A unique opportunity of 1 minute and 40 seconds: what citizens can contribute to science during the eclipse