Latest news with #WhiskerLabs
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Blackout, Fire Warnings Flashed From Home Sensors Hours Before Crises
The first signs of vulnerability started at 9:30 that morning — three hours before the disaster. First, it was just a handful of concerning readings. Then they began to multiply, increasing in frequency and magnitude. Voltage changes started showing up every 1.6 seconds. And they kept intensifying until just after 12:30 p.m., when the grid gave way, plunging Spain and its neighbors into an hours-long blackout that left more than 50 million people in the dark and ground the Iberian peninsula to a halt. Little-known US startup Whisker Labs managed to collect the detailed data that day in April. Using its home sensors, the company was able to pinpoint electricity information that went deeper and more granular than what's typically reported by officials, power providers and grids. Though the data was collected as part of a pilot program and not shared with regulators in real time, it underscored critical blind spots in global power systems — particularly the lack of visibility at the residential level. Whisker Labs identified similar signals during the Maui wildfire, the LA blazes and just last week as outages took hold in parts of New York City, showing that it's possible to detect the threats well before the disaster. Whisker Labs is at the forefront of a burgeoning industry that's deploying sensors, satellites and drones, and combining that data with artificial intelligence models, to better track the flow of electricity. The new guard can detect grid faults and other signs of danger hours before any other source reveals a threat, leaving many system operators and utilities trailing. Grids are becoming 'super stressed and not able to deliver adequate power to the homes and businesses,' Bob Marshall, chief executive officer of Whisker Labs, said after the company was able to identify concerning power flows hours ahead of outages in New York last week. 'The impacts are significant.' But rather than working together, power companies in the US have so far taken a combative approach to Whisker Labs. They've taken umbrage with the startup's relationship with insurance companies and its eagerness for attention on its findings — some of which are being cited in lawsuits against utilities that could lead to billions of dollars in liabilities. The discord is coming to a head at a time when rising electricity demand, aging infrastructure and extreme weather have made global grids especially vulnerable to catastrophe. Interviews with dozens of experts over the past two years, along with exclusive data, public reports and regulatory filings reveal a utility industry that is careening under the weight of increased power-system stress, fear of liability and reluctance to innovate. 'What happened in Spain and Portugal is not an isolated incident,' said Taco Engelaar, senior vice president and general manager at Neara, which provides software solutions for the power industry. 'These events should serve as a wake-up call. The real lesson here is that it's not enough to simply patch things up after they've failed. We need to build grids that can adapt to threats, whether physical, cyber or environmental, before they escalate.' Utilities globally already deploy vast resources to track power flow and voltage swings, but the adoption levels vary widely. The data collection is often slow, and details are typically not disclosed to the public. The findings are also usually based on grid infrastructure and don't drill down to the home level. More granular data is becoming increasingly important as power grids face strain and new challenges. Power distribution lines snake millions of miles across the globe, but it's actually the last mile that connects directly to homes and businesses that's become the hardest to track. And meanwhile, rooftop solar and batteries are turning residences into power generators, while the deployment of electric vehicles and increased electrification overall means that there's more localized stress that needs to be better managed. 'Many more outages occur on the local level than the wholesale bulk power system,' said Richard Glick, former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under the Biden Administration and now principal of consultancy GQS New Energy Strategies. At Whisker Labs, a little black and white plug-in device that looks like a night light is helping to fill those data needs. It's called the Ting, and it helps monitor power quality in people's homes. The Ting tracks the flow of electricity powering lights and appliances to show if it's delivered at an even and predictable pace. Sudden surges or sags of voltage, called faults, are the warning signs of disaster. Power quality had 'been a very opaque and blind area' in grid monitoring, said Jon Wellinghoff, previously a long-time US federal power regulator who now serves on the Whisker Labs advisory board. The new technologies are starting to change that, he said. Whisker Labs pairs its home-level data with AI to process information in milliseconds. Its device can tell if the issue is coming from utility equipment outside the home or from household gadgets, and AI is used to quickly identify if it's a faulty kitchen appliance, light switch or even pet heating pad. The Maryland-based company had deployed at least a dozen of its sensors in the Madrid area. While the company's sensors showed signs of voltage oscillations three hours before the massive blackout, Spain energy officials first only pointed to power trips that started about 30 minutes prior to the outage around the cities of Seville, Granada and Badajoz. Almost two months later, in mid-June, grid operator Red Electrica produced a more detailed account. The Ting deployment in Madrid was just part of a test program as the company looks at expansion in Europe. For now, Whisker Labs primarily operates in the US and works with insurance companies to get its devices into residences — with more than 1 million of the plug-in sensors now operating in American homes. Whisker Labs began moving into the spotlight in 2022, when the company's sensors detected sudden voltage swings in the minutes before a wind-driven wildfire destroyed 20 homes in California's Orange County. In August 2023, data from its residential sensors showed dozens of grid faults building in the hours before the deadly Maui fires that razed the seaside town of Lahaina. Last year, the company had warned that Houston's local grid was one of the most stressed in the country months before the city lost power for days amid Hurricane Beryl. And this year in January, Whisker Labs data showed that Los Angeles power lines close to where the deadly Eaton fire started weren't shut off, despite warnings about high winds. Ting data also showed that, around the time of the fire, two significant transmission-scale faults were felt across the entire western grid. The voltage swings were so strong they were recorded by a lightning-detection tower about 40 miles away. 'In Maui, Eaton and other fires, the fault data from Whisker Labs has proven up as dead-on accurate every single time,' said Mikal Watts, a Texas-based attorney who has represented thousands of victims of utility-sparked wildfires including those in Maui and in California. On a brisk February day, boxes of Ting devices sat stacked around the unassuming Whisker Labs offices in Germantown, Maryland. A pair of conference rooms are named El Niño and La Niña, a holdover from the days when the space housed the company Earth Networks, a weather-tracking firm that was also founded by the man behind Whisker Labs, Marshall. He is now CEO at Whisker Labs full time, after it was spun out from Earth Networks in 2017. The boxes of Tings would soon be shipped out to homes across the country, mainly through orders placed through insurance companies like State Farm, which cover the costs of the Tings and the fire-prevention services that Whisker Labs provides to Ting users. The company has fire experts and electricians positioned around the country and alerts households when the sensors register the warning signs of high fire risk. AI models are used to generate images of power flow that pinpoint voltage swings and arcing, those little bolts of electricity that are as hot as the sun and are imperceptible to the eye because they take place within wires, hidden within gadgets or behind drywall. The company says they can usually identify the source of the problem within about 30 minutes and electricians are dispatched — this typically happens about 25 times a day through the US. 'We'd have to have a thousand people to work with homeowners if we didn't have the AI doing a lot of hard work behind the scenes analyzing those images,' Marshall said. The nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute is launching a study assessing the accuracy and capabilities of the Ting sensors and is encouraging utility companies that want to understand how emerging technologies are applicable to fault detections to join. Preliminary results are expected later this year. Meanwhile, Whisker Labs estimates that over the past five years, the Tings have helped to identify and correct 20,000 total fire hazards. About 35% of those were linked to grid faults caused by utility equipment, the company calculates. 'Our goal, ultimately, is to work directly with utilities and make the data available so that they can fix problems like that,' Marshall said. So far, that's proven to be difficult. Major US utilities and the industry group that represents them, Edison Electric Institute, have blasted Whisker Labs, decrying the data the company provides as too basic. The biggest criticism levied is that the residential devices only signal problems on the home level, and the data shouldn't be used to extrapolate out to operating conditions of local utility distribution systems or longer-haul transmission networks. The industry has also taken issue with the fact that Whisker Labs derives most of its revenue from partnerships with insurers, which have a financial interest in shifting liabilities over to power providers. Utilities in the US have a reputation of being cautious because of the weight they carry. Power is a public good, and the companies have been granted monopolies to try to provide safe, reliable and affordable electricity that is the bedrock of modern life. They can also be careful with big investments because consumers ultimately bear the burden of spending plans through their electric bills. But some say that the caution has made the utilities laggards when it comes to deploying the latest technology and grid improvements. That's led to a dearth of new data on the part of the utilities, especially in terms of what's disclosed to the public. And meanwhile, the impact of climate change along with the intermittency of renewable power has created conditions that are ripe for the outbreak of wildfires and prolonged electricity outages. 'The way they are siloed, the way they manage data and information is antiquated,' Brooke Smallwood, a former utility operations executive, said of the industry. 'I don't think we've scratched the surface of what grid disruption looks like; I think we've seen glimpses.' Smallwood is the CEO of Oasis Energy Partners, a Maryland-based clean tech firm that's part of the new guard, like Whisker Labs, using AI and other technologies to try and improve power systems. AI is also an essential tool at Neara, which digitally maps infrastructure. Often, utilities don't know the exact location of their power lines or other equipment because of outdated records. Mapping allows the power providers to keep better track of conditions for electric poles and improve vegetation management. The innovation means that analyzing poles in a utility's system can now take about 3 hours — down from the historical process of 1.5 years, according to Mary Cleary, who is the vice president of marketing, communications and public policy at Neara. Some utilities are beginning to warm to the use of the new technologies. CenterPoint Energy, which owns the Houston utility that was criticized for widespread outages in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl last year, has started partnering with Neara. 'The weather patterns have created a great deal of stress on trees here in the Greater Houston area,' CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells said in an interview, adding that the company is looking at a slate of new technologies to improve resilience to events like storms that can knock down trees, which then threaten power lines. And at Whisker Labs, Marshall is eager for similar partnerships. The self-described 'data and weather nerd' started the company after his sister-in-law's house burned down in an electrical fire. He likens the imaging pulled from the company's sensors to the creation of a large-scale electrocardiogram of the grid, detecting threats as they happen. Ting sensors around the country capture 30 trillion voltage measurements per second — a figure that is growing. 'We run that image recognition AI in real-time across a million homes,' Marshall said. 'If you can prevent the catastrophic events, that's just better for everybody, right?' With assistance from Mark Chediak Demetrios Pogkas Marie Monteleone Edited by Millie Munshi Chloe Whiteaker
Business Wire
24-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
SageSure Launches Free Electrical Fire Prevention Program for Louisiana Policyholders
BUSINESS WIRE)--SageSure, one of the largest managing general underwriters focused on catastrophe-exposed markets, today announced it has partnered with Whisker Labs to help homeowners prevent electrical fires, starting in Louisiana. By providing free Ting sensors and fire prevention services to eligible Louisiana policyholders, SageSure is further expanding its proactive property protection solutions that complement its insurance offerings. SageSure is proud to enhance our suite of solutions with an electrical fire prevention program proven to make homes safer and more resilient. Share The Ting plug-in sensor and app help detect hazards that lead to electrical fires within a home's wiring, devices, and utility equipment. If a hazard is identified, the Ting sensor app alerts the homeowner and guides them through the repairs needed to address the issue. 'SageSure is proud to enhance our suite of solutions with an electrical fire prevention program proven to make homes safer and more resilient,' said Paul VanderMarck, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at SageSure. 'Fires are one of the most costly and devastating events a homeowner may face, and approximately 20% of SageSure's fire claims are the result of electrical hazards. We look forward to partnering with our producers to help our policyholders reduce electrical fire risk and protect their families.' In addition to fire prevention, Ting also provides real-time alerts for power outages and assistance for frozen pipe prevention as part of its commitment to helping keep families safe and informed. 'We are proud to offer Ting to our clients because it gives homeowners peace of mind and allows us to deliver even greater value,' said Dick Gibbs, VP of Sales at Hartwig Moss Insurance Agency, one of SageSure's distribution partners. 'By helping our clients prevent losses before they happen, we are not only protecting their homes; we are protecting their families and futures. Ting is more than just a safety device—it is a key differentiator that sets SageSure apart in a crowded market. It's the kind of innovation that makes us proud to represent SageSure.' 'We're thrilled to partner with SageSure to bring Ting to even more homes,' shared Bob Marshall, Whisker Labs Co-Founder and CEO. 'Ting has already been deployed to over 1 million homes and saved over 20,000 policyholders from potentially devastating fires. This partnership not only helps keep families safe but also strengthens the relationship between policyholders, their insurance providers, and insurance representatives by offering a preventative, technology-driven solution.' Eligible SageSure policyholders will receive a free Ting plug-in sensor, the Ting app, up to three years of free fire prevention service, and a $1,000 credit for labor repair costs of Ting-identified hazards. SageSure plans to expand the program to more states soon. To learn more, visit About SageSure SageSure is one of the largest managing general underwriters focused on catastrophe-exposed property in the US. Dedicated to serving producers and carrier partners, SageSure provides highly differentiated residential and commercial solutions, innovative service and claims management, and market-leading buying experiences. A leader in catastrophe risk underwriting and exposure management, SageSure operates in 16 states, protects more than 815,000 policyholders, and manages more than $2.3 billion of inforce premium. To learn more, visit About Whisker Labs Whisker Labs develops cutting-edge sensor technology to protect families, homes, and communities by predicting and helping prevent electrical fires while also monitoring the resiliency and safety of the U.S. electrical grid. Through a single DIY sensor plugged into a wall outlet, Ting, Whisker Labs' flagship solution, enables intelligent detection, localization, and mitigation of hazards before they can start a fire. As one of the fastest growing grid IoT networks, Ting is proven to prevent 80% of electrical fires, reducing home fire losses and saving lives across the U.S. every day. For more information, please visit
Boston Globe
30-04-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
What we know about Monday's sweeping power outage in Spain and Portugal
What happened? Spain and Portugal lost most of their electricity early Monday afternoon. Shortly after 12:30 p.m. local time, Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity — or roughly 60% of demand in the country of 49 million, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said. Advertisement There had been two significant 'disconnection events' — or interruptions in power — before the outage, Spain's electric grid operator Red Eléctrica de España said Tuesday. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up While Spain's grid managed to recover from the first event, systems operations director Eduardo Prieto said that the second was more damaging, progressing to the point of interruptions from France's electrical system and producing 'a massive, temporary disconnection.' About three hours before the outage, power quality sensors in homes in the Madrid area showed warning signs of an unstable grid — there were small fluctuations in voltage around 9:30 a.m. local time, Whisker Labs CEO Bob Marshall said Tuesday. The Maryland-based software developer has a couple dozen sensors in homes in and around Madrid, testing the technology for use in Europe for home fire prevention and grid monitoring. Advertisement Instead of normal, steady voltage, Marshall said the data shows there were oscillations whose frequency and magnitude increased over the next three hours until the grid failed. He does not know what caused the instability. Around noon, there was a big jump in the magnitude of the fluctuations, with the voltage measured going up and down by about 15 volts every 1.5 seconds, Marshall said. 'The way I would interpret our data,' Marshall said about Monday's events, 'is that the grid is struggling. Something's wrong. And it's showing increasing signs of instability.' What don't we know? We don't know exactly what caused Monday's fluctuations and eventual failure. 'There's a variety of things that usually happen at the same time, and it's very difficult for any event to say 'this was the root cause,'' said Eamonn Lannoye, managing director at the Electric Power Research Institute, Europe. Lannoye said there was a range of events that can explain grid failures, including that electric grid lines or generators are switched off in some locations for maintenance. 'This could be a really complex event, I think it's fair to say,' Lannoye said. What causes power outages? Power outages can have several triggers, including natural disasters and extreme weather, human-caused disasters, equipment failures, overloading transformers and wires and so on. Electric grids are sensitive to imbalances in the amount of energy generated versus what's used. Enric Bartlett, an energy expert and professor of public law at Spain's Esade business school, likened a grid's supply and demand balance to a tandem bike. 'To avoid falling, everyone must pedal at the same cadence,' Bartlett said. 'Electrical grids are large interconnected systems, and their stability is related to a very close balance between electricity generation and demand,' said Grazia Todeschini, an engineering researcher at King's College London. Advertisement 'If one area is disconnected, it can cause knock-on effects in nearby areas,' she said, adding that while grids have measures in place to limit the impact of outages to small areas, when the imbalance is large, disruptions can spread quickly and far. What have Spain and Portugal's governments said? Authorities in Spain and Portugal have downplayed the idea that a cyberattack was responsible. Spain's High Court said it would investigate to find the cause. On Tuesday, there was renewed attention on Spain's renewable energy generation. The southern European nation is a leader in solar and wind power generation, with more than half of its energy last year having come from renewable sources. Portugal also generates a majority of its energy from renewable sources. Questions remain about whether Spain's heavy renewable energy supply may have made its grid system more susceptible to the type of outage that took place Monday. The thinking goes that non-renewable energy sources, such as coal and natural gas, can better weather the type of fluctuations observed Monday on Spain's grid. That is because renewable energies like solar and wind provide intermittent supply, relying on when the sun is shinning and wind is blowing. However, in recent years batteries that store energy, along with other methods, have helped regulate changes in electricity supply from renewables. Lannoye said it was too early to draw a straight line between Monday's event and Spain's solar power generation. 'I think there's some putting the cart before the horse to say this was solar,' Lannoye said, simply because there was solar power on the grid at the time of the disruption. Advertisement Why was France partially affected? Europe's electric grid is highly connected, meaning that it can pool power between countries. That can make the system more resilient, experts say. It also means a disruption in a major transmission artery or frequency imbalance can trigger cascading protective shutdowns across countries, according to Shreenithi Lakshmi Narasimhan, member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Spain and Portugal are connected to Europe's main electric grid through France. Spain's grid operator on Tuesday said that the sudden drop in power caused an interconnector between Spain and France to trip. Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.
France 24
30-04-2025
- Business
- France 24
What we know so far about the massive blackout that hit Spain and Portugal
The sweeping power outage that hit Spain and Portugal this week has raised questions about the electricity grid in a region not normally known for blackouts. Monday's outage, one of the worst ever in Europe, started in the afternoon and lasted through nightfall, affecting tens of millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula. It disrupted businesses, hospitals, transit systems, cellular networks and other critical infrastructure. Authorities in Spain and Portugal are still investigating exactly what caused the failure, though some information has emerged about happened. A timeline Spain and Portugal lost most of their electricity early Monday afternoon. Shortly after 12:30 pm local time, Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity – or roughly 60% of demand in the country of 49 million, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said. There had been two significant 'disconnection events' – or interruptions in power – before the outage, Spain's electric grid operator Red Electrica de Espana said Tuesday. While Spain's grid managed to recover from the first event, systems operations director Eduardo Prieto said that the second was more damaging, progressing to the point of interruptions from France's electrical system and producing 'a massive, temporary disconnection". 12:53 About three hours before the outage, power quality sensors in homes in the Madrid area showed warning signs of an unstable grid – there were small fluctuations in voltage around 9:30am local time, Whisker Labs CEO Bob Marshall said Tuesday. The Maryland-based software developer has a couple of dozen sensors in homes in and around Madrid, testing the technology for use in Europe for home fire prevention and grid monitoring. Instead of normal, steady voltage, Marshall said the data shows there were oscillations whose frequency and magnitude increased over the next three hours until the grid failed. He does not know what caused the instability. Around noon, there was a big jump in the magnitude of the fluctuations, with the voltage measured going up and down by about 15 volts every 1.5 seconds, Marshall said. 'The way I would interpret our data," Marshall said about Monday's events, "is that the grid is struggling. Something's wrong. And it's showing increasing signs of instability". Unknown cause We don't know exactly what caused Monday's fluctuations and eventual failure. 'There's a variety of things that usually happen at the same time, and it's very difficult for any event to say 'this was the root cause,'' said Eamonn Lannoye, managing director at the Electric Power Research Institute, Europe. Lannoye said there was a range of events that can explain grid failures, including that electric grid lines or generators are switched off in some locations for maintenance. 'This could be a really complex event, I think it's fair to say,' Lannoye said. Power outages can have several triggers, including natural disasters and extreme weather, human-caused disasters, equipment failures, overloading transformers and wires and so on. Electric grids are sensitive to imbalances in the amount of energy generated versus what's used. Enric Bartlett, an energy expert and professor of public policy at Spain's Esade business school, likened a grid's supply and demand balance to a tandem bike. 'To avoid falling, everyone must pedal at the same cadence,' Barlett said. 'Electrical grids are large interconnected systems, and their stability is related to a very close balance between electricity generation and demand," said Grazia Todeschini, an engineering researcher at King's College London. 'If one area is disconnected, it can cause knock-on effects in nearby areas,' she said, adding that while grids have measures in place to limit the impact of outages to small areas, when the imbalance is large, disruptions can spread quickly and far. Authorities in Spain and Portugal have downplayed the idea that a cyberattack was responsible. Spain's High Court said it would investigate to find the cause. Renewable energy On Tuesday, there was renewed attention on Spain's renewable energy generation. The southern European nation is a leader in solar and wind power generation, with more than half of its energy last year having come from renewable sources. Portugal also generates a majority of its energy from renewable sources. Questions remain about whether Spain's heavy renewable energy supply may have made its grid system more susceptible to the type of outage that took place Monday. The thinking goes that non-renewable energy sources, such as coal and natural gas, can better weather the type of fluctuations observed Monday on Spain's grid. That is because renewable energies like solar and wind provide intermittent supply, relying on when the sun is shinning and wind is blowing. However, in recent years batteries that store energy, along with other methods, have helped regulate changes in electricity supply from renewables. Lannoye said it was too early to draw a straight line between Monday's event and Spain's solar power generation. 'I think there's some putting the cart before the horse to say this was solar,' Lannoye said, simply because there was solar power on the grid at the time of the disruption. Europe's electric grid is highly connected, meaning that it can pool power between countries. That can make the system more resilient, experts say. It also means a disruption in a major transmission artery or frequency imbalance can trigger cascading protective shutdowns across countries, according to Shreenithi Lakshmi Narasimhan, member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Spain and Portugal are connected to Europe's main electric grid through France. Spain's grid operator on Tuesday said that the sudden drop in power caused an interconnector between Spain and France to trip.
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Business Standard
30-04-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Here's all about Monday's sweeping power outage in Spain, Portugal
Monday's outage, one of the worst ever in Europe, started in the afternoon and lasted through nightfall, affecting tens of millions of people AP Madrid The sweeping power outage that hit Spain and Portugal this week has raised questions about the electricity grid in a region not normally known for blackouts. Monday's outage, one of the worst ever in Europe, started in the afternoon and lasted through nightfall, affecting tens of millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula. It disrupted businesses, hospitals, transit systems, cellular networks and other critical infrastructure. Authorities in Spain and Portugal are still investigating exactly what caused the failure, though some information has emerged about happened. Here's what to know: What happened? Spain and Portugal lost most of their electricity early Monday afternoon. Shortly after 12.30 pm local time, Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity or roughly 60 per cent of demand in the country of 49 million, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said. There had been two significant disconnection events or interruptions in power before the outage, Spain's electric grid operator Red Electrica de Espana said Tuesday. While Spain's grid managed to recover from the first event, systems operations director Eduardo Prieto said that the second was more damaging, progressing to the point of interruptions from France's electrical system and producing a massive, temporary disconnection. About three hours before the outage, power quality sensors in homes in the Madrid area showed warning signs of an unstable grid there were small fluctuations in voltage around 9.30 am local time, Whisker Labs CEO Bob Marshall said Tuesday. The Maryland-based software developer has a couple dozen sensors in homes in and around Madrid, testing the technology for use in Europe for home fire prevention and grid monitoring. Instead of normal, steady voltage, Marshall said the data shows there were oscillations whose frequency and magnitude increased over the next three hours until the grid failed. He does not know what caused the instability. Around noon, there was a big jump in the magnitude of the fluctuations, with the voltage measured going up and down by about 15 volts every 1.5 seconds, Marshall said. The way I would interpret our data," Marshall said about Monday's events, "is that the grid is struggling. Something's wrong. And it's showing increasing signs of instability. What don't we know? We don't know exactly what caused Monday's fluctuations and eventual failure. There's a variety of things that usually happen at the same time, and it's very difficult for any event to say 'this was the root cause', said Eamonn Lannoye, managing director at the Electric Power Research Institute, Europe. Lannoye said there was a range of events that can explain grid failures, including that electric grid lines or generators are switched off in some locations for maintenance. This could be a really complex event, I think it's fair to say, Lannoye said. What causes power outages? Power outages can have several triggers, including natural disasters and extreme weather, human-caused disasters, equipment failures, overloading transformers and wires and so on. Electric grids are sensitive to imbalances in the amount of energy generated versus what's used. Enric Bartlett, an energy expert and professor of public policy at Spain's Esade business school, likened a grid's supply and demand balance to a tandem bike. To avoid falling, everyone must pedal at the same cadence, Barlett said. Electrical grids are large interconnected systems, and their stability is related to a very close balance between electricity generation and demand," said Grazia Todeschini, an engineering researcher at King's College London. If one area is disconnected, it can cause knock-on effects in nearby areas, she said, adding that while grids have measures in place to limit the impact of outages to small areas, when the imbalance is large, disruptions can spread quickly and far. What have Spain and Portugal's governments said? Authorities in Spain and Portugal have downplayed the idea that a cyberattack was responsible. Spain's High Court said it would investigate to find the cause. On Tuesday, there was renewed attention on Spain's renewable energy generation. The southern European nation is a leader in solar and wind power generation, with more than half of its energy last year having come from renewable sources. Portugal also generates a majority of its energy from renewable sources. Questions remain about whether Spain's heavy renewable energy supply may have made its grid system more susceptible to the type of outage that took place Monday. The thinking goes that non-renewable energy sources, such as coal and natural gas, can better weather the type of fluctuations observed Monday on Spain's grid. That is because renewable energies like solar and wind provide intermittent supply, relying on when the sun is shinning and wind is blowing. However, in recent years batteries that store energy, along with other methods, have helped regulate changes in electricity supply from renewables. Lannoye said it was too early to draw a straight line between Monday's event and Spain's solar power generation. I think there's some putting the cart before the horse to say this was solar, Lannoye said, simply because there was solar power on the grid at the time of the disruption. Why was France partially affected? Europe's electric grid is highly connected, meaning that it can pool power between countries. That can make the system more resilient, experts say. It also means a disruption in a major transmission artery or frequency imbalance can trigger cascading protective shutdowns across countries, according to Shreenithi Lakshmi Narasimhan, member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Spain and Portugal are connected to Europe's main electric grid through France. Spain's grid operator on Tuesday said that the sudden drop in power caused an interconnector between Spain and France to trip. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
