From what I've read so far lack of maintenance and investment are the biggest threat to a stable electricity supply in most European countries these days. The worst power cut in Germany was caused by a mix of severe winter weather AND mis-management that ended up causing a domino-effect of transmission lines being shut down. The initial spark was a planned shutdown to let a large ship pass under some transmission lines. Lack of generation capacity had nothing to do with it.
I honestly don't shed one single tear over coal-fired power stations considering how much more efficient and useful (in terms of extremely quick start and load regulation) gas-fired plants are. Having a bunch of those on standby to step in when green energy sources can't supply enough power is a great thing! They can be up and running at a few MW within less than 2 minutes!
