How to survive an Apagón – News from Ispaster

On the 28th of April, our demo site of Ispaster was hit by the now infamous Iberian blackout –  and they did not fare out too badly.

It was a sunny day. All ten consumption points in the closed microgrid kept their energy systems running. These dwellings comprise a range of municipal buildings, from the cultural center to the local school.

This microgrid has terminated all contracts with a utilities company and is self sufficient.

The consumption points connected to the main grid, however, did suffer from the blackout – the day center losing function of its heat pump due to the lack of internet.

When the main grid fails, every point connected to it no longer has access to energy, even that generated by the prosumer – who now cannot meet their own demand. An inverter port should be connected to load physically, a blackout prevents the use of batteries if that is not the case. 

The idea of acquiring a biomass generator to increase sufficiency in the municipality is an option currently being explored – some businesses expressed interest in being connected to the microgrid but that was simply not possible. One bar requires as much power as ten municipal dwellings

There is nowadays a big demand on batteries and thermal storage for companies and areas in rural Spain that do not wish to depend so heavily on the electrical grid.