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Power Crisis in Spain: A Return to Normalcy and Lessons Ahead
As normalcy begins to resume in Spain and Portugal, pressing questions have emerged regarding the recent widespread power failure: what caused it, and how can such incidents be avoided in the future?
Spain’s electricity grid officially announced its restoration to normal operations at 11:15 (09:15 GMT) on Tuesday—almost 23 hours after a dramatic system collapse.
While rail services have restarted, some lines remain suspended, and most households have regained power. Yet, the confusion surrounding the outage lingers.
Understanding the Outage
Monday was characterized by widespread disruption across Spain. The outage stemmed from two connection failures in the southwest occurring almost simultaneously, coupled with a disconnection from the French power network that lasted nearly an hour.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez referred to the immediate loss of 15 gigawatts of electricity at 12:33 that day, explaining that approximately 60% of Spain’s power generation vanished without warning.
Eduardo Prieto, director of operations at Red Eléctrica, noted that the grid had been stable prior to this sudden loss of generation in southwestern Spain. The only regions unaffected were the Canary Islands, Balearics, and the North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
A growing chorus of public figures has attributed the outage to an overreliance on renewable energy sources, particularly solar power. Minutes before the failure, solar photovoltaic generation accounted for 60.64% of the power mix, while wind and nuclear contributed 12% and 11.6%, respectively.
Restoration Efforts
The complexity of the national power collapse at 12:35 on Monday necessitated significant efforts to restore functionality across the grid. The initial priority was to reactivate the northern and southern power-generating regions. Red Eléctrica emphasized the importance of “gradually re-energizing the transmission grid” without overloading the system.
This meticulous approach required experts to implement a “black start,” a procedure involving the careful phasing of power restoration. Hydro-electric plants were initially tapped for their ability to generate electricity swiftly, especially those with full reservoirs and rapid response capabilities. Additionally, combined-cycle gas plants played a vital role; however, the outage led to the automatic shutdown of four nuclear reactors, with three others already offline.
Support from neighboring countries was crucial. Morocco facilitated the transfer of 900MW via high-voltage lines to southern Spain, while French operator RTE gradually increased electricity supplies through its power lines to Catalonia and the Basque Country. After confirming connectivity, France quickly restored 700MW and later boosted supply to 2,000MW.
By the evening of Monday, the power grid operator had successfully restored over 20% of demand using both domestic generation and assistance from France. Endesa reported that it had restored power to nearly 3.5 million customers by 19:15, prioritizing hospitals and essential infrastructure. Within an hour, 35.1% of demand had been reinstated, a figure that climbed to over 99% by the following morning.
The Aftermath
The repercussions of the outage are becoming evident. The CEOE business association estimates an economic impact of around €1.6 billion. Concurrently, political tensions have escalated. Isabel DÃaz Ayuso, the conservative president of Madrid, criticized the government’s handling of the crisis, arguing it projected a “lamentable” image internationally.
Amidst these challenges, the Spanish populace displayed remarkable resilience. Hospitals maintained operations with backup generators, while the Guardia Civil rescued 13,000 passengers trapped on stalled trains. In Barcelona, police managed traffic manually as power outages knocked out signals.
Despite overall disruptions, Aena, the airport operator, continued to function with backup support from generators. In the absence of electricity, many relied on battery-operated radios for news updates, while local communities rallied to assist those stranded by rail issues.
Lessons for the Future
In the face of the crisis, Prime Minister Sánchez stressed the commitment to learn from the experience to prevent future occurrences. Yet, energy expert Carlos Cagigal has expressed concerns over Spain’s capacity to handle increasing renewable energy production, Especially given earlier warnings about the potential risks associated with excessive reliance on renewables amid the closure of nuclear plants.
The president of Red Eléctrica had previously assured the public of Spain’s robust electrical infrastructure, a statement that has since sparked considerable discussion and skepticism.
Source
www.bbc.com