Preventing Future Blackouts: Katrick’s Role in Building a Resilient Grid
Last week, Portugal, Spain, and parts of southern France were affected by a massive blackout that rolled through the region. Telecommunications, emergency services, and transportation systems were all affected, and some people were left without power for nearly 12 hours.
As finger-pointing and blame began to arise in the aftermath, a commission was pulled together to figure out the direct cause of the sudden loss of power. One thing that we do know is that the grid in this region failed to deliver the necessary power to the people in these regions. Hear from our Founder and CTO, Karthik, on why the grid in the Iberian Peninsula failed and how the work we are doing here at Katrick Technologies can help to mitigate this issue in the future.
The recent blackout in Spain and Portugal was triggered by a sudden drop in grid frequency, a small disruption that rapidly cascaded across the national network. As more renewables like wind and solar come online, traditional power stations that once provided essential inertia are being phased out. Without inertia, today’s grid is increasingly dependent on fast-reacting controls and vulnerable to system-wide failures when those controls fall short.
This is where the distinction between grid-following and grid-forming becomes critical.
Most renewable systems today are grid-following; they rely on the grid’s existing voltage and frequency to function. But when the grid falters, these systems disconnect, making the problem worse. Katrick’s technology roadmap is focused on solving this with a new class of intelligent, decentralised power systems that are capable of being grid-forming, actively maintaining local voltage and frequency, even if the wider grid fails.
Our patented Wind Panel technology is central to this. Unlike traditional turbines, it doesn’t directly convert wind to electricity. Instead, it uses a hydraulic buffer to store mechanical energy, decoupling generation from output. This enables stable, controlled power delivery that supports grid-forming behaviour, a critical step toward local grid stability and blackout prevention.
Alongside this, our development with our ground-level wind energy software brings an AI-driven layer of intelligence. Using real-time, ground-level wind mapping, it can predict wind behaviour and optimise system performance. Enabling an informed and intelligent system that decides when to store energy, when to release it, and how to balance power with demand. It also supports islanded operation, allowing sites to run independently from the grid and can seamlessly coordinate with other sources like solar, enabling hybrid, multi-source microgrids.
Together, Katrick’s hardware and software create not just a generator, but a resilient, decentralised power solution. It can operate in both grid-following and grid-forming modes, adapting to local conditions and supporting the wider network during disturbances.
This is more than a clean energy solution, it’s an infrastructure strategy. Our vision is to enable a network of intelligent microgrids: systems that are self-supporting, capable of restarting independently (black-start), and able to shield communities and critical infrastructure from national-scale disruptions.
Katrick Technologies are not just helping generate renewable energy, we’re helping reimagine how it supports and protects the grid of the future.