With recent temperatures between 30 and 37ºC, the renewable-ridden European energy grid has been put under severe stress. In Italy, Florence and Bergamo were hit by a blackout yesterday, which luckily lasted no longer than one hour. Blackouts were reported today throughout the country, in Milan, Genua, Rome and other Italian cities, hitting sections of those cities and lasting from a few minutes to a few hours.
A lot of sun is good for solar panels but not for the grid. A peak in the demand of electricity for air conditioners overloaded the grid, which locally collapsed. Fortunately, Italy has a decent reserve of conventional (gas-driven) plants in stand-by that can be instantly activated, but the Florence and Bergamo episodes are a warning. This exposes the absurdity of the so-called energy transition: the more renewables you build, the more conventional plants you must have as a reserve.
