Local conditions
While the schedules in Spain and Portugal are connected to each other, they have limited connections with elsewhere. The only sources of external power to the schedule come from France and Morocco, which are small connections, but they can be used to start black plants. Both darkened countries have a considerable hydropower, in which Spain covers 10 percent of its demand and Portugal 25 percent. This is useful because hydro plants need very little in the way of an external diet to start.
Furthermore, both countries have invested heavily in renewable energy sources, where Portugal delivers about half of its stream of wind and hydro, which closed its last coal -fired power plant in 2021. Spain currently receives around 40 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources.
Solar is not an ideal power source for black starting the grid, since it is not available for a considerable part of the day. But solar panels produce direct electricity, where electronic systems correspond to the alternating current of the grid. With the right electronics it can play a key role in keeping frequencies stable, since grid segments are rewarded. In productive areas, wind can offer black starting power to other plants and it does not need much external power to start operations. However, it is unclear whether the local wind hardware is equipped for black start, or whether the local is working together again (a quick check of the weather in different cities suggests that it is relatively calm there).
Batteries have the potential to be incredibly useful, because they also offer direct current that can be converted into any required frequency and thus used for both start -up power plants or for frequency stabilization and segments of the grid are brought back online. Unfortunately, none of the countries still installed a lot of battery hardware on a grid scale. This is expected to change in the coming years in parallel with dramatically extensive solar energy. But at the moment, batteries will not be huge help.
Regardless of how exactly the grid operators succeed in handling this task in Spain and Portugal, they are currently facing a monumental challenge. If you see estimates of several days for the recovery of power, this is because it is not about this challenge, leaving things behind in the state in which they are now.
