Anniversary of massive European blackout a reminder why energy security should be top priority
May 11, 2026
By Gary Abernathy
Times of rising energy prices always present opportunities for climate activists to insist that now
is the time to abandon reliable resources like oil and gas and embrace “renewables” such as solar and wind.
“Clean” energy, they argue in times like these, is the cheapest form of energy. So why not
abandon everything else and “go green” – if not for the environment, then for the savings?
Aside from ignoring the fact that China and other countries provide much of the technology and
parts necessary for solar panels – posing substantial security risks – that argument also ignores the
hidden costs of solar and wind, as many point out.
For instance, an article last year from the think tank R Street, written by Philip Rossetti and Kent
Chandler, noted that to replace fossil fuels, “renewable energy requires storage technology to make
electricity available when customers demand it, not just when it’s convenient to produce.”
Infrastructure and grid capabilities are other often overlooked cost factors. “Another issue is
that just because renewables might produce cheaper energy doesn’t mean it’s necessarily cheaper to
transmit that energy to a customer,” Rossetti and Chandler wrote. “Building transmission lines to carry that electricity to customers can be expensive, so even if energy production costs are low, transmission costs for renewables may be higher than for fossil fuel plants located closer to customers.”
Also commonly ignored is the fact that “alternative” energy is competitive primarily due to
government subsidies.
“But fossil fuels are subsidized too!” critics say. The comparison isn’t close.
“Wind and solar have received 48 and 168 times more subsidies per unit of electricity generated
than oil and gas, respectively,” as reported by the Commonwealth Foundation, which added, “Without these subsidies, these ‘green’ sources couldn’t compete.”
Experience has taught us that while they should certainly be part of the overall energy mix, relying on solar and wind when disaster strikes is a bad bet.
This spring marks the one-year anniversary of a power outage affecting at least 55 million people in Spain, Portugal and parts of France when the Iberian Peninsula electric grid system failed. As I noted when writing about it at the time, such blackouts mean hospitals operating on emergency backup systems, people trapped inside elevators, traffic snarled due to inoperable stoplights, gas station pumps not functioning, airport terminals closed – the list goes on and on.
As Reuters reported, “Spain is one of Europe’s biggest producers of renewable energy, and the
blackout sparked debate about whether the volatility of supply from solar or wind made its power
systems more vulnerable.” The story added, “Redeia, which owns Red Electrica, warned in February in its annual report that it faced a risk of ‘disconnections due to the high penetration of renewables without the technical capacities necessary for an adequate response in the face of disturbances.’”
Who came to the rescue? “As Spain tried to get more power back on Monday it turned more gas
and hydropower plants online and increased power imports from France and Morocco,” Reuters
reported.
Despite temporary price spikes, Americans should not be led astray by the arguments that “renewables” are the answer. Avoiding the kind of widespread outage experienced in Spain, Portugal and parts of France requires seeing through the rhetoric from the left coupled with action from Washington.
With America’s 250 th birthday just around the corner, President Trump, if Congress fails to act,
should give citizens the greatest gift of all – energy security, in the form of an executive order modeled after the Affordable, Reliable and Clean Energy Security bill introduced last year by Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio).
As Balderson said when introducing the ARC-ES bill, “We saw under the Biden Administration
how unelected bureaucrats were able to derail American energy policy by effectively shutting down our baseload, reliable energy productions. This bill restores regulatory sanity.”
The bill “guarantees that our most affordable and reliable energy sources, including nuclear and
natural gas, remain part of the energy mix – a crucial requirement to guarantee affordable and reliable energy for American households and businesses,” as described in a press release.
The widespread blackout that happened last year in much of Europe was a warning to the rest
of the world – an overreliance on “alternatives” can lead to grid instabilities, resulting in disaster.
Insisting on prioritizing solar and/or wind over our most affordable and reliable resources is a case of political pressures outpacing technical capabilities – a prescription for disaster that could easily happen here if we’re not careful.
President Trump has rolled back as many destructive Biden era energy policies as possible while
enacting numerous pro-consumer energy initiatives through executive orders. Adding ARC-ES to the mix would protect Americans from price and availability interference from other countries, while guaranteeing affordable, reliable energy for homes and businesses across the U.S.
Gary Abernathy is a longtime newspaper editor, reporter and columnist. He was a contributing
columnist for the Washington Post from 2017-2023 and a frequent guest analyst across numerous media platforms. He is a contributing opinion columnist for The Empowerment Alliance, which advocates for realistic approaches to energy consumption and environmental conservation.