Apr 30, 2025
Don’t hold renewable energy responsible for Spain’s power failure.
Although it may be easy to attribute the massive power outage that affected the Iberian peninsula this week to the rapid increase of wind and solar energy in Spain, it is the management of these renewables within the current grid that appears to be the real issue.
The blackout on Monday, the largest in Europe’s history, serves as a clear warning: investments in energy storage and grid improvements must accompany the growth of renewable generation.
Spanish officials are investigating the outage as power is being gradually restored, but here’s what is known so far:
Around 12:30 p.m. (1030 GMT), electricity generation in Spain suddenly fell from approximately 27 gigawatts to just over 12 GW, losing 15 GW, which is about 10% of Spain's total capacity. This sudden decline destabilized electricity flows, which require a steady frequency of 50 Hertz to maintain supply, leading to a break in the Spanish-French electricity connection through the Pyrenees and the total collapse of Spain's power system.
Since Spain exports electricity to Portugal, the failure in Spain quickly affected the entire Iberian Peninsula, with some areas in France also experiencing brief outages.
The reason for the initial drop that triggered this chain reaction remains unclear, although a failure in Spain's solar power generation played a significant role. Data from the Spanish grid operator, Red Electrica, shows that at 12:30 p.m. solar generation fell from about 18 GW to nearly 5 GW by 1:35 p.m., accounting for most of the overall decline. The reasons for this and why the system collapsed so quickly remain unknown.
A possible factor is the lack of 'grid inertia' due to the relatively small proportion of nuclear and fossil fuel energy in Spain's energy mix. Inertia, produced by spinning generators, provides temporary energy supply during sudden drops, acting as a shock absorber. In contrast, inverter-based wind and solar power, which constituted nearly 70% of Spain's electricity at the critical moment, does not involve physical rotation, thus lacking the inertia necessary to stabilize the grid.
A straightforward short-term fix to prevent a repeat blackout would be to maintain a higher level of rotating power generation. In the long run, the power systems need to invest significantly in battery storage and technologies to synchronize the grid, essential for maintaining the 50 Hz frequency.
This is theoretically achievable since battery costs have decreased significantly and are being deployed widely. However, it still requires substantial investments. While new solar capacity investments reached around $500 billion last year, grid investments were only about $400 billion, which the International Energy Agency says can hinder the energy transition.
While such outages are unprecedented in Europe, governments cannot claim they had no warning. There has been increasing concern about the management of renewables, particularly with the rise of 'dunkelflaute' events in northwest Europe this winter, which refer to prolonged periods of low wind and solar energy production. Until now, these declines have been managed by gas power plants, but reliance on natural gas cannot continue indefinitely; battery storage solutions will be necessary.
This outage underscores that current grids, especially in developed economies, are outdated, many dating back to the 1950s, and require urgent upgrades to meet the anticipated growth in electricity demand as decarbonization accelerates.
Just last week, European governments stressed the importance of investment in such infrastructure at a London summit organized by the International Energy Agency. Delegates called for long-term policies to anticipate future system needs, including flexible generation, storage, demand-side response, and regional interconnection.
The outage in Spain and Portugal should serve as a wake-up call for governments and power companies alike. Building a modern power grid will necessitate comprehensive investment across the entire energy infrastructure, including the less glamorous aspects that often go unnoticed—until they fail.
The blackout on Monday, the largest in Europe’s history, serves as a clear warning: investments in energy storage and grid improvements must accompany the growth of renewable generation.
Spanish officials are investigating the outage as power is being gradually restored, but here’s what is known so far:
Around 12:30 p.m. (1030 GMT), electricity generation in Spain suddenly fell from approximately 27 gigawatts to just over 12 GW, losing 15 GW, which is about 10% of Spain's total capacity. This sudden decline destabilized electricity flows, which require a steady frequency of 50 Hertz to maintain supply, leading to a break in the Spanish-French electricity connection through the Pyrenees and the total collapse of Spain's power system.
Since Spain exports electricity to Portugal, the failure in Spain quickly affected the entire Iberian Peninsula, with some areas in France also experiencing brief outages.
The reason for the initial drop that triggered this chain reaction remains unclear, although a failure in Spain's solar power generation played a significant role. Data from the Spanish grid operator, Red Electrica, shows that at 12:30 p.m. solar generation fell from about 18 GW to nearly 5 GW by 1:35 p.m., accounting for most of the overall decline. The reasons for this and why the system collapsed so quickly remain unknown.
A possible factor is the lack of 'grid inertia' due to the relatively small proportion of nuclear and fossil fuel energy in Spain's energy mix. Inertia, produced by spinning generators, provides temporary energy supply during sudden drops, acting as a shock absorber. In contrast, inverter-based wind and solar power, which constituted nearly 70% of Spain's electricity at the critical moment, does not involve physical rotation, thus lacking the inertia necessary to stabilize the grid.
A straightforward short-term fix to prevent a repeat blackout would be to maintain a higher level of rotating power generation. In the long run, the power systems need to invest significantly in battery storage and technologies to synchronize the grid, essential for maintaining the 50 Hz frequency.
This is theoretically achievable since battery costs have decreased significantly and are being deployed widely. However, it still requires substantial investments. While new solar capacity investments reached around $500 billion last year, grid investments were only about $400 billion, which the International Energy Agency says can hinder the energy transition.
While such outages are unprecedented in Europe, governments cannot claim they had no warning. There has been increasing concern about the management of renewables, particularly with the rise of 'dunkelflaute' events in northwest Europe this winter, which refer to prolonged periods of low wind and solar energy production. Until now, these declines have been managed by gas power plants, but reliance on natural gas cannot continue indefinitely; battery storage solutions will be necessary.
This outage underscores that current grids, especially in developed economies, are outdated, many dating back to the 1950s, and require urgent upgrades to meet the anticipated growth in electricity demand as decarbonization accelerates.
Just last week, European governments stressed the importance of investment in such infrastructure at a London summit organized by the International Energy Agency. Delegates called for long-term policies to anticipate future system needs, including flexible generation, storage, demand-side response, and regional interconnection.
The outage in Spain and Portugal should serve as a wake-up call for governments and power companies alike. Building a modern power grid will necessitate comprehensive investment across the entire energy infrastructure, including the less glamorous aspects that often go unnoticed—until they fail.