Spain and Portugal Blackout blamed the dependence on solar energy

The inability of Spain’s electricity network to manage an unusually high supply of solar energy was a key factor in Monday’s catastrophic blackout, according to former regulators and experts.

About 55 percent of SpanishThe supply was solar sources when the 15GW electricity generation was disconnected from the network in just five seconds on Monday afternoon, causing a wide stop of power systems in Spain and Portugal.

Several European experts said that Spain seemed to be not enough power: the easily available reliable energy supply of sources such as fossil or nuclear fuels that can be reduced or increased, to begin when the network frequency fell abruptly at 12.33 hours on Monday. The frequency, the speed at which the electric current alternates, must be kept stable for the network to work.

The Spanish Network operator Red Eléctrica has said that he does not yet know the exact cause of the interruption. CEO Beatriz Corredor denied that renewables “would do the most vulnerable system” in an interview with El País on Wednesday.

But André Merlin, the founder and former Chief Executive Minister of the Network of France RTE, told The Financial Times: “Two thirds of electricity production (Spain) were made up of non-controllable resources. These non-controllable resources do not contribute to the stability of the internal electrical system.”

Jorge Sanz, a former -official of the Spanish Energy Agency and a member of the International Energy Agency, told Spanish television on Wednesday evening that an over -supply of electricity could have initially caused the problem. The network operator would normally manage it by asking traditional plants to moderate their production, but this was not possible because few plants were online, Sanz said.

This would have been followed by an electricity generation disconnection to prevent equipment damage, leading to an interruption.

Sanz said, “There was a supply imbalance. (The Network Operator) needed to reduce the electricity supply, but when it resorts to firm facilities to reduce the load, it can hardly do it because they were hardly connected.”

Last month, Transport Minister Oscar Puente revealed through his account X that “an excess of tension on the network” had caused a failure that left some high -speed rail lines out of operation for several hours.

In the meantime, an energy consultant near the European Commission also said that experts were exploring whether the country’s high renewable confidence and the lack of firm power to balance the intermittent supplies contributed to the shutdown.

Network operators must constantly balance the supply and demand for electricity to keep the network frequency stable and prevent harmful equipment or interruptions. This stability is easier to achieve with fossil fuel turbines, hydroelectric or nuclear energy than with renewable technologies such as the solar. The frequency of the Spanish grid dropped sharply below the optimal rate of 50Hz at 12.33 pm on Monday.

Confidence in solar energy at the time of interruption has led to criticism of Red Eléctrica. Usually, about one -fifth of the country’s supply comes from solar energy.

Sanz, a former energy transition adviser to the Spanish government, said that there was a “mismanagement” of the network, not having enough nuclear energy, hydroelectric or fossil planned to balance the system. Of the 26GW planned for electricity supply Monday, only 5GW came from non -intermittent sources.

The Brussels headquarters indicated the annual report of Red Eléctrica 2024, who said that the disconnections caused by a “high renewable penetration” without enough “technical capacities necessary for a response appropriate to the disturbances” was a risk to the system.

Merlin was less critical of the operator, but said that the renewable policy should be reviewed in the light of the incident. “I do not think there has been mismanagement by Spanish or Portuguese operators. We simply take care of the maximum development policy and the maximum use of intermittent renewable energy to the detriment of more conventional means.”

Some experts say that a waterfall, more than a unique problem, could have been responsible for the interruption. “What we usually find is a couple of things that were going wrong at the same time,” said Kristian Ruby, Secretary General of the EURELECTRIC INDUSTRY BODY.

Merlí suggested that solar plants could have been the first to fail. He offered a different theory to Sanz’s idea of ​​solar supply, which suggests that heavy cloud cover could have promoted production to fall rapidly on some solar plants, directly affecting the frequency of the network.

Red Eléctrica runner, under intense pressure to explain what happened, said that the company did not yet have to identify the cause of the interruption and that he could not say that solar plants were behind the disconnection. He said that the operator had observed a sudden disconnection in the southwestern region of Spain, where there are many solar plants.

But he threw a severe defense of the renewable systems of Spain and pointed to the reliability of other sources of energy, including the nuclear. “(Renewables) are not unsafe technologies. The test is that the system operates with renewables every day … It is not true that a greater penetration of renewables has made the system more vulnerable.”

In addition to reducing carbon emissions and the production of nuclear waste, Spain renewable energy The network has helped reduce energy prices that many other European countries, thus helping industry growth and economic growth.

The government of Pedro Sánchez has established plans to increase renewable production to 80 percent of the electricity generation by 2030, compared to more than half of 2023.

But Sánchez has undergone fire politicians on fire politicians for plans to eliminate the expensive nuclear network of Spain, and several experts, including Merlin, have defended greater use of nuclear energy in Spain to ensure energy safety.

Iberdrola’s executive chairman, Ignacio Galán, told analysts on Tuesday that nuclear was “the least expensive solution to ensuring system stability”.

Another solution is an accelerated launch of battery technology or storage systems or improving connections with other countries to import more energy.

“At this point, more storage capacity should be a main focus for the country,” said Pratheeksha Ramdas, an analyst at Rystad Energy.

Additional Reports of David Sharlock in Madrid