Javier Blas

1 week ago | taipeitimes.com | Javier Blas

By Javier Blas / Bloomberg Opinion Over a century of running the power grid on fossil fuels, we learned many lessons about why, how and when blackouts happen. We now need to learn new lessons about when they are triggered by green energy. On Monday, Spain and Portugal — and a sliver of France — suffered what could come to be known as the first major blackout of the renewable-energy era. More than 50 million people lost power, and electricity did not return for nearly half a day.

1 week ago | bloomberg.com | Javier Blas

The OPEC pavilion at the COP29 Climate Conference in November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Cartels have one – and only one - raison d'être: push prices higher. OPEC, the most famous of all of them, is a textbook example. So why is Saudi Arabia, which leads the group, driving prices down?Ostensibly, the kingdom is trying to reestablish discipline among rogue producers: Kazakhstan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates are cheating on their output targets.

2 weeks ago | wctrib.com | Javier Blas

The electrification of everything is the biggest shake up the global energy system has seen in decades. Unfortunately, the route to the future is hung up by the culture wars of the energy transition and the fight against climate change. That’s putting pressure on the advocates of electric vehicles, heat pumps and wind turbines to address the risks their vision carries. Confronting them is increasingly important as power consumption booms.

2 weeks ago | bloomberg.com | Javier Blas

People wait outside the Atocha train station in Madrid after its closure as a massive power outage hit Spain on April 28. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Over a century of running the power grid on fossil fuels, we learned many lessons about why, how and when blackouts happen. We now need to learn new lessons about when they’re triggered by green energy.On Monday, Spain and Portugal — and a sliver of France — suffered what could come to be known as the first major blackout of the renewable-energy era.

2 weeks ago | channelnewsasia.com | Javier Blas

LONDON: In the 1950s, the US was worried about the supply of mercury, because the liquid metal was key to power walkie-talkies during the Korean War. In the 1980s, analysts warned that mineral shortages to rival the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil shock could undermine the Cold War arsenal. Today, the concern is about China cornering the market for lithium and cobalt, which are needed for high-capacity batteries.