Why Europe’s Lights Went Out

On Monday, Spanish grid operators found themselves sprinting against sunset. The entire country had blacked out. Planes paused on the runway for want of air traffic control. Trains lurched to a stop on the tracks or sat in their bays at the station. Within a few hours, the Spanish government declared a national emergency.

The blackouts even reached France and Portugal. Europe is learning another painful lesson about its power sector: If one nation mismanages its grid, its neighbors suffer with it. If these blackouts were caused by Spain’s green energy policies, as seems likely, these blackouts are a preview of the world to come.