Six days ago, the media celebrated a significant milestone: Spain’s national grid operated entirely on renewable energy for the first time during a weekday.- Michael Shellenberger

At 12:35 pm today local time, the lights went out across Spain and Portugal, and parts of France. - Michael Shellenberger@shellenberger 

Although power was quickly restored in France, it could take a week to fully restore power in Spain and Portugal.
In an instant, the electric hum of modern life — trains, hospitals, airports, phones, traffic lights, cash registers — fell silent. 

• Tens of millions of people instantly plunged into chaos, confusion, and darkness. 
• People got stuck in elevators. 
• Subways stopped between stations. 
• Gas stations couldn’t pump fuel. 
• Grocery stores couldn’t process payments. 
• Air traffic controllers scrambled as systems failed and planes were diverted. 
• In hospitals, backup generators sputtered on, but in many cases could not meet full demand.

It was one of the largest peacetime blackouts Europe has ever seen. 

And it was not random....