Cybersecurity and digital systems was not the issue but gets thirteen pages of proposed measures. I feel this could have been left out.
Electric System Operation was the issue and gets seven pages of proposed measures.
https://d1n1o4zeyfu21r.cloudfront.net/WEB_Incident_%2028A_Sp...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_South_Australian_blackout
Completely solved with lithium based grid storage at key locations btw. This grid storage has also been massively profitable for it's owners https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornsdale_Power_Reserve#Revenu...
Australia currently has 4 of the 5 largest battery storage systems under construction as a result of this profit opportunity; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_energy_storage_system#...
You can also read numerous stories of how Australia's lithium ion grid storage systems have prevented blackouts in many cases. https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-big-battery-south-australia-... The fact is that the batteries responsiveness is the fastest of any system at correcting gaps like this. 50/60hz is nothing for a lithium ion battery nor are brief periods of multi-gigawatt draw/dumping as needed.
There's even articles that if Europe investing in battery storage systems like Australia they'd have avoided this. https://reneweconomy.com.au/no-batteries-no-flexibility-spai...
Actually this is typically an issue for grid batteries.
Spinning generators can easily briefly go to 10x the rated current for a second or so to smooth out big anomalies.
Stationary batteries inverters can't do 10x current spikes ever - the max they can get to is more like 1.2x for a few seconds.
That means you end up needing a lot of batteries to provide the same spinning reserve as one regular power station.
That equivalent inertia can only be done for short periods but that's exactly what grids need in stability - there's generally no lack of total generation, just a need to jump in and smooth out spikes.
You can't build a dam for that price, nor could you do it in under 100 days from contract signing as that battery was built. Batteries are definitely the answer here. The 'more spinning mass' answers don't make sense since Australia literally solved the above problem in a much cheaper way already.
Basically I'm dubious. I'm sure there are grids somewhere that have misprovisioned their inverter capacity, but I don't buy that battery facilities are inherently unable to buffer spikes. Is there a cite I can read?
Sadly, some news outlets are probably only going to look at the recommendations and read "cybersecurity" and (even though they are common sense recommendations) assume there might be more to say about the matter.
Oh wait, they already did: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/06/18/renewable-en...
Ed: Do I need a /s tag here or something? My point was that we shouldn't worry too much about about the presentation of the report, its actual contents will be spun to suit any narrative regardless.
Now I'm curious about what's in the confidential version of the report.
I would like to see: "We have simulated the complete 200 and 400 kV grid of the iberian peninsula and western europe, and can reproduce the situation that occurred. Any one of the following changes would have prevented the issue, and we suggest implementing them all for redundancy. This simulation will be re-run every day from now on to identify future cases similar incidents could occur"
> However, as is common in networks and information systems in any sector, other risks have been identified, such as vulnerabilities, deficiencies or inadequate configurations of security measures, which may expose networks and systems to potential risks, for which a series of measures are proposed.
> The ultimate cause of the peninsular electrical zero on April 28th was a phenomenon of overvoltages in the form of a "chain reaction" in which high voltages cause generation disconnections, which in turn causes new increases in voltage and thus new disconnections, and so on.
> 1. The system showed insufficient dynamic voltage control capabilities sufficient to maintain stable voltage
> 2. A series of rhythmic oscillations significantly conditioned the system, modifying its configuration and increasing the difficulties for voltage stabilization.
If I understand it correctly (and like software, typical), it was a positive feedback-loop. Since there wasn't enough voltage control, some other station had to be added but got overloaded instead, also turning off, and then on to the next station.
fuoqi•2h ago
>These changes in production can be significant (if the price signals from the markets are sufficiently strong) and affect the energy flows in the networks and the stresses in the nodes
>Regarding the correlation between changes in generation and voltage: if the generation operating at power factor falls (with the existing regulation, the renewable generation), there is a decrease in the reactive energy absorbed by these installations (since it is reduced proportionally to the reduction in generation). Additionally, as the energy transmitted by the networks decreases due to this reduction in generation, the capacitive effects of the electrical circuits increase as they become more discharged, which causes an increase in reactive energy. Both effects (higher reactive power production by the circuits and lower reactive power absorption) push the voltages upwards.
As expected, renewables played the leading role in destabilization of the grid which led to the collapse. Of course, these instabilities could be worked around on the grid level using various (not cheap) measures, so you may argue that it's not renewables' "fault", but the fact still stands: above the certain threshold of renewable generation the current grid architecture becomes increasingly unstable.
I wrote exactly about it in this comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43831523 and its child comment, but the fans of renewables just flagged it.
matsemann•1h ago
Your other comment probably got flagged because it started with a huge straw man and had multiple unwarranted jabs in it.
fuoqi•1h ago
Also, have you read after the market part? Please watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G4ipM2qjfw if the last quote is gibberish to you. It discusses somewhat different issues, but the point still stands.
pkilgore•38m ago
shakow•1h ago
There is not much fast trading to be done on a nuke/gas/coal/hydro powerplant ramping up or down, but there is a lot of instability (and thus market volatility) to be found in fast varying solar/wind conditions.
wavefunction•1h ago
>the most plausible explanation is that it is due to market reasons (prices)
Seems to be market conditions or manipulations or inefficiencies in the market.
pdpi•1h ago
baq•1h ago
Yeask•53m ago
fuoqi•1h ago
baq•1h ago
philipkglass•1h ago
The incident was NOT caused by a lack of system inertia. Rather, it was triggered by a voltage issue and the cascading disconnection of renewable generation plants, as previously indicated. Higher inertia would have only resulted in a slightly slower frequency decline. However, due to the massive generation loss caused by voltage instability, the system would still have been unrecoverable.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44360052
baq•48m ago