Does Ukraine face a blackout like in Spain? Lessons and risks

A month has passed since the large-scale blackout in Spain, but its exact cause has not yet been determined. None of the first three versions of the accident's origin have been sufficiently confirmed.

The abnormal weather event was dismissed almost immediately. The failure of renewable energy generation was more likely the result of the first failures in the power grid. And the official investigation has not yet been able to find any traces of a cyberattack .

Whatever conclusions the Spaniards ultimately reached, their experience should be indicative and warning for Ukraine. Each of these possible causes of the incident is an existing threat to Ukraine's energy system, which is already in a difficult state due to the ongoing war.

Is there a risk for Ukraine to repeat the Spanish blackout scenario? What factors pose the greatest threat to the stability of the Ukrainian power grid? Could it be completely disrupted by severe temperature fluctuations, a drop in renewable energy generation, or hacker intervention?

Answers to these questions LIGA.net received from Artur Zaporozhets, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Deputy Director of the Institute of General Energy (IGE) of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.