DR seeks to protect grid resilience in wake of Spain’s blackout crisis

[Dolores]

In the aftermath of Spain’s 29 April 2025 blackout, which left millions without power across the Iberian Peninsula, the Dominican government and private sector are accelerating efforts to strengthen its national energy grid. Minister of Energy and Mines Joel Santos emphasized the urgent need to learn from the crisis during a keynote address at the “Regulation of the Energy Sector: Keys to a Stronger, Modern Industry” forum, hosted by the Dominican Electrical Industry Association (ADIE) at the Intercontinental Real Santo Domingo hotel.

As reported in El Caribe, Santos underscored that while each country’s energy challenges differ, the Dominican Republic must adopt proactive measures to avoid a similar collapse. “Every situation has its unique aspects, but we must all learn from what happened in Spain and other parts of Europe,” he stated, highlighting the role of technological...

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[windeguy]

Just keeping the power on when there are no "atmospheric disturbances" would be a good start.

I just read an article describing how immensely difficult it is to bring the grid back up in Europe. Power systems people running all over the place.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

"Black Start" after grid failure

 

[Notengo]

Just keeping the power on when there are no "atmospheric disturbances" would be a good start.

I just read an article describing how immensely difficult it is to bring the grid back up in Europe. Power systems people running all over the place.

The weather was actually pretty good. Some experts say the solar plants produced so much surplus they were massively switched off at the same time causing the disruption. Unlike normal plants solarplants don’t have slow startup/shutdown capabilities, it’s on or off.

The grid in Europe is actually good interconnected but complex, the bottleneck for Spain is there are only 2 lines to France over the Pyrenees mountain range, not enough as backup for whole Spain/Portugal.

The panic was mainly because people can’t imagine anymore being without luz 24/7/365.
It’s a bit funny when you’re used to the DR.

 

[Manuel01]

This Headline made my Day !!! HUGE LOL

 

[bob saunders]

The weather was actually pretty good. Some experts say the solar plants produced so much surplus they were massively switched off at the same time causing the disruption. Unlike normal plants solarplants don’t have slow startup/shutdown capabilities, it’s on or off.

The grid in Europe is actually good interconnected but complex, the bottleneck for Spain is there are only 2 lines to France over the Pyrenees mountain range, not enough as backup for whole Spain/Portugal.

The panic was mainly because people can’t imagine anymore being without luz 24/7/365.
It’s a bit funny when you’re used to the DR.

not really, the panic was because the trains and subways run on electricity

 

[JD Jones]

"Black Start" after grid failure

Wow. Nice! That is an excellent video. Thanks.

 

[josh2203]

The panic was mainly because people can’t imagine anymore being without luz 24/7/365.
It’s a bit funny when you’re used to the DR.

That is exactly the problem. While living in EU, we have experienced a blackout that lasted a few hours. I'm not kidding, it was not fun, why? Because nothing there by default is prepared for that. If you have a moderately modern heating system, it might run on gas but the control unit is electrical. So with no power, there is no heat nor even warm water. By default, there aren't really backup systems in homes.

In the DR, yes, we're used to having blackouts but that has taught us to be prepared for everything, which is exactly the skill you need in this kind of a situation. No matter in which country do you live.

I was really appalled to open a website of a tabloid newspaper on the day of the blackout, the headline being, the reporter actually saying "the elevators don't work".... No kidding, did the newspaper really pay you for writing that sentence... I think generally speaking, it's rather healthy to be prepared for various situations.