185. Blackouts - Jul25

185. Blackouts - Jul25

What Really Happened During the Iberian Blackout This Spring? And How Should We Make Sense of the Conflicting Reports?

To shed light on the events, Gerard and Laurent are joined by global energy expert Steve Berberich, who served as President and CEO of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) from 2011 to 2020. Steve led CAISO through the August 2020 blackout in California and now serves as President and CEO of Onward Energy.

We begin by placing the Iberian blackout in a broader context—comparing and contrasting it with major grid failures from recent years: South Australia 2016, California 2020, Texas Uri 2021, Ireland 2024, Louisiana 2025 and of course Iberia 2025.

We examine both the long-term systemic weaknesses and short-term triggering events behind each case—identifying patterns, divergences, and the reforms that followed in their aftermath. Then we turn our full attention to Spain. Unlike the other blackouts, the Iberian event did not stem from extreme weather. Instead, Steve—along with Gerard and Laurent—dives deep into the underlying structural vulnerabilities of the Spanish grid.

From regulatory gaps and design flaws to operational mistakes, we scrutinize the entire system and arrive at a set of clear, evidence-based conclusions.

Link to Gerard’s substack https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/spains-grid-blame-blackouts-bureaucracy-gerard-reid-tiqre/

Link to the Energy Institute Report https://www.energyinst.org/statistical-review

Episoder(179)

188.  US/Petrostate vs EU/Electrostate – a joint episode with Open Circuit

188. US/Petrostate vs EU/Electrostate – a joint episode with Open Circuit

On July 7th, Gerard and Laurent were invited to appear on the U.S. podcast Open Circuit, alongside Jigar Shah, Katherine Hamilton, and Stephen Lacey. It was an emotional reunion—Jigar and Katherine we...

28 Jul 202532min

187. Texas: Power Surge or Power Splurge? - Jul25

187. Texas: Power Surge or Power Splurge? - Jul25

Texas is an oddity in the western electricity world: fastest growing load, ultra-low prices, crazy development of renewables. Texas consumes now more power than France, despite having only half the po...

21 Jul 202526min

186. Power under Pressure: Fortum’s CEO on Datacenters’ growth and Russian Attacks (Eurelectric)

186. Power under Pressure: Fortum’s CEO on Datacenters’ growth and Russian Attacks (Eurelectric)

Laurent had the pleasure and privilege of sitting down with Markus Rauramo, CEO of Fortum, during the Eurelectric “Power Play” conference in Brussels this June.  Fortum, the Finnish energy company als...

14 Jul 202524min

184. Market dynamics and Pricing of Battery Materials - Jun25

184. Market dynamics and Pricing of Battery Materials - Jun25

Six years ago, Simon Moores, CEO of Benchmark Minerals Intelligence shook the world in a now legendary testimony in front of the US Senate. Then, Simon predicted the exponential growth of batteries an...

22 Jun 202533min

183. Energy Security from the front line: Eastern Europe and Renewables - Jun25

183. Energy Security from the front line: Eastern Europe and Renewables - Jun25

Laurent remembers vividly his trip to Sofia Bulgaria in winter 2009 when the Russians had cut the gas for Bulgaria during a -15C winter. Russia was already playing hard ball because of (guess what) a ...

15 Jun 202527min

182. Broken grids and Datacenters load growth  - Jun25

182. Broken grids and Datacenters load growth - Jun25

We have recently witnessed spectacular black outs: South Australia 2016, Texas Uri 2021, California 2020-21-25 and Iberia 2025. We are not even mentioning fragile grids in the Global South.  We will d...

9 Jun 202532min

181. “Hot Air” from Tony Blair - May25

181. “Hot Air” from Tony Blair - May25

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) recently released a widely publicized report titled “The Climate Paradox”, which has garnered significant positive attention from outlets such as the G...

26 Mai 202520min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
pengesnakk
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
finansredaksjonen
pengepodden-2
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
utbytte
rss-sunn-okonomi
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
liberal-halvtime
lederpodden
rss-markedspuls-2
okonomiamatorene
rss-politisk-preik