Australian critics of renewable energy were quick to blame renewables for the Spanish-Portugese blackout, claiming that an electricity grid with high contribution from renewable electricity cannot provide reliable power. This ignores the evidence right here in Australia of high renewables and high reliability. For example, in just the last week, renewables contributed up to 83% of electricity in Victoria on 6th May, and 119.8% in South Australia on 8th May (i.e. supplying all the State’s power and exporting a further 19.8%).
The diversity of generation sources and locations, together with batteries, has made the main Australian grid more reliable. Indeed, the most significant blackouts have been caused by failures in large coal-powered generators and transmission networks.
The lessons of the Iberian blackout had already been acted on in the Australian grid, which is evidenced by the high renewables contribution to electricity supply in Australia.