The Tri-StateƵs TRUSTED news source.

Click here to stay informed and subscribe to Herald-Dispatch.

Click #isupportlocal for more information on supporting our local journalists.


Learn more about HD Media

A sudden blackout across Spain and Portugal earlier this month left 50 million people without electricity. While the cause of the outage is unclear, a leading culprit appears to be poorly integrated wind and solar resources. WhatƵs clear is that, in an increasingly digital age, ensuring affordable and reliable power is more critical than ever.

The Spain-Portugal blackout came as U.S. power regulation authorities sounded an alarm about the safety of AmericaƵs electric grid and power supply. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Ƶ the nationƵs grid reliability regulator Ƶ warned that parts of AmericaƵs power grid could fail during a heat wave this summer.

Terry Jarrett is an energy attorney and consultant. He served on the board of the National Ƶsociation of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the Missouri Public Service Commission. He wrote this column for .

Welcome to the discussion.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.

Recommended for you