Green shift brings blackout risk to world’s biggest power grid

As biting cold caused power demand to surge across western Europe on January 8, the continent’s power network came close to a massive blackout.

Europe’s grid, which is usually connected from Lisbon to Istanbul, split into two as the northwest and southeast regions struggled to keep the same frequency. The problem originated in Croatia and led to the equivalent of 200,000 households losing power across Europe. Supply to industrial sites was cut in France and Italy.

While this event hasn’t been linked to a surge in renewable electricity, as Europe replaces big coal and nuclear stations with thousands of smaller wind and solar units — just as sectors electrify to reduce emissions — incidents like this will become more frequent.